Bactobio Milestones: A new antibiotic discovery against Acinetobacter Baumannii
19 November 2025
Bactobio Milestones: A new antibiotic discovery against Acinetobacter baumannii
Bactobio has discovered a novel antibiotic compound with activity against Acinetobacter baumannii, one of the world’s most challenging drug-resistant bacterial pathogens.
Our compound has shown activity against A. baumannii, including clinical isolates and resistant strains. This activity has been validated through external testing with a contract research organisation. The compound has also shown activity against other bacterial pathogens, indicating a broader spectrum of activity that we will continue to investigate.
Encouragingly, early in vitro toxicity testing suggests that the compound is not toxic in the assays performed to date. The compound represents a novel structure, and Bactobio has filed a patent application to protect this discovery.
A. baumannii: A global hospital pathogen with limited treatment options
A. baumannii is a major cause of healthcare-associated infections, particularly in vulnerable patients, with an estimated ~1 million infections worldwide, and associated with around 400,000 deaths a year. It can cause pneumonia, bloodstream infections, urinary tract infections and wound infections, and is most often a concern in hospital settings, including intensive care.
These infections are difficult to treat because A. baumannii is highly adaptable and can develop resistance to multiple antibiotics. Carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii is recognised by the World Health Organization as a critical priority pathogen, reflecting both the severity of the clinical need and the limited treatment options available.
For patients who are already seriously ill, a resistant infection can turn a complex hospital stay into a life-threatening situation. For healthcare systems, these infections can increase treatment duration, cost and pressure on already stretched clinical resources.
This makes A. baumannii an important target clinically, scientifically and commercially. There is a clear need for differentiated antibiotics with novel structures and activity against resistant strains.
Built from unexplored microbial diversity
Most antibiotics in clinical use originate from microbes, but only a small fraction of microbial life has historically been accessible in the laboratory. Bactobio was founded on the belief that the remaining unexplored microbial majority contains new chemistry with the potential to address urgent global challenges. This discovery reinforces our belief that new solutions to antimicrobial resistance can still be found in nature, if we have the right tools to access them.
What comes next
This is an early discovery milestone, and further work is needed before any clinical application. Our next steps include expanded ADME testing, combination therapy studies with existing antibiotics, further resistance and mechanism-of-action work, and in vivo studies to assess pharmacokinetics, tolerability and efficacy.
Antibiotic discovery is difficult, but this result is an important step forward for Bactobio’s antimicrobial pipeline. We look forward to sharing more as the programme develops.
