Liverpool antibiotic research receives funding boost
SPR206 may be safer and just as effective as colistin.
A grant of £250k has been awarded to the University of Liverpool to develop antibiotics for multi-drug resistant bacteria.
The money, awarded by biopharmaceutical company Spero Therapeutics, will be used by the University’s Centre for Antimicrobial Pharmacodynamics (CAP) for the development of SPR206.
Initial research suggests this new antibiotic may be safer and just as effective as colistin. In the NHS, colistin is only used as a last resort treatment of multi-drug resistant bacteria because it is highly toxic.
The research will be conducted by Dr Shampa Das and Professor William Hope.
Professor Hope said: “This funding will help support further work of the CAP, where the principal task is to identify regimens to take into first-in-patient clinical studies.”
The discovery of SPR206 and its development is being supported by the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health.
Livestock keepers are being urged to stay vigilant for Bluetongue (BTV-3) following confirmation of the disease in a ewe. The case, confirmed in Staffordshire on 23 June 2026, represents the first confirmed case of infection this summer.
