The Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP), Eisai Co., Ltd. and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited have signed an agreement for GARDP to access and screen components of Eisai and Takeda's chemical libraries.

Both libraries will be tested by the Institut Pasteur Korea in the hope of discovering novel compounds with antibacterial activity. This multi- partner agreement supports GARDP's efforts to tackle serious bacterial infections by developing antibiotics while endeavouring to ensure their sustainable access.

With few antibiotics in development, antimicrobial resistance is a major and rapidly growing global public health concern. Around 700,000 people die of drug-resistant infections every year. Serious bacterial infections, and in particular Gram-negative bacterial infections, have been identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a global public health priority.

The compounds that will be screened have emerged from Eisai and Takeda's latest medicinal chemistry efforts and have never been screened for antibacterial activity. They will be tested against bacteria identified as a critical priority for research and development of new antibiotics in WHO's global priority pathogen list. Through this screening, GARDP seeks to identify novel compounds suitable for further optimization and development.