Principal Investigator (PI)
The Foundation is providing £186,082 in support.
Dr. Santiago Ramón
GSK provides expertise and in-kind contributions in High Throughput Assays (HTA), in vitro pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) modeling, and pre-clinical in vivo TB models. GSK is also providing access to Biosafety Level 3 facilities and GSK’s collection of compounds.
One approach to generate new TB treatment options in a timely and cost-effective manner is “repurposing” clinically used drugs with known pharmacokinetic and safety data; thus allowing for rapid evaluation in clinical trials. In addition, drug repurposing is a strategy that would allow for an easier long-term implementation since manufacturing and distribution infrastructure is already established.
Rifampin (RIF) is a cornerstone drug in TB therapy, having both bactericidal and sterilizing activity. Numerous in vitro, in vivo and clinical investigations suggest that there is a direct relation between RIF dose increase and efficacy, but use of higher doses is limited by the toxicity profile. Thus, if higher efficacy could be achieved for a given dose of RIF by augmenting it’s anti-tuberculosis activity TB therapy could be potentially shortened, reducing the rate of TB transmission, and the development of resistant strains
At UBC, Dr. Ramón-García identified conventional antibiotics that enhance RIF’s in vitro activity. His work at GSK will further explore the synergistic drug interactions of RIF using GSK’s collection of compounds. Santiago will pre-clinically develop those compounds originally identified at UBC in addition to new leads generated at GSK.