Microbiotix, WAFCIRC and KNUST Partner to battle Antimicrobial Resistance in Ghana and West Africa Microbiotix and West Africa Centre for Innovation Research and Care (WAFCIRC) have collaborated with Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, and other researchers to bring innovative approaches to address the burden of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) in Ghana and the West African sub-region. The partnership involves a group of researchers from different countries collaborating to tackle antimicrobial resistance. Facing the challenge of producing insufficient antibiotics while overusing existing supplies and the official research agreement signing ceremony. Dr. John Adabie Appiah, a paediatric critical care physician at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), discussed that the research study aimed to address challenges with the treatment of multidrug-resistant organisms. The research is specifically looking at a bacterium called Pseudomonas, which causes severe lung infections and is a leading cause of death from infectious diseases. He highlighted the increasing number of people coming in with pan-resistance, where no existing drugs are effective in treating these organisms. “Most of the patients die anyway,” he said. He mentioned that this partnership between South Korea and Ghana is to develop special tools, which they call bacteriophages. The initial phase will study the compassionate use of phage therapy to address patients presenting with pan-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa lung infection. In terms of building capacity for investing in Ghana and the university, we will be bringing diagnostic equipment that will help us develop the field, also potentially to help with the students' training. This is a one-year project with potential for extension, marking the first opportunity for such research in Sub-Saharan Africa. Mr. Joshu Opoku Mainoo, the Executive Director of WAFCIRC, mentioned that the essence of this project is to ensure that they can conduct more research. As you can see from the core values, on what we can do strengthen healthcare for our community. In fact, we know that infection is a problem in the world. And if you look at the current data, about 50 million persons are affected with severe infection every year and about 11 million die; they think this is a call to work together as a team. For that, this partnership is really going to help us deepen that, making sure that we bring innovative care to this burdensome problem of lack of treatment options for patients with antimicrobial resistance down so that more people will be saved. Prof. JI Woong Jang, Managing Director of Microbiotix, stated that they are developing an Intravenous (IV) formulation, which is cleared for use in patients with lower respiratory tract infectious disease and pan-antimicrobial resistance. “Chronic setting does not matter,” he said. Clinical symptoms get exaggerated; the key is that a patient can be in jeopardy of developing sepsis, such as a bloodstream infection and sepsis. We can do things like colony-counting assays or phage subject ability testing, and that's part of our initial investment to set up the lab to exactly measure phage counts, from whether that patient would benefit from this phage therapy to what we will provide. Step by step, we expect to have treatment options for bacteraemia and sepsis so that patients and loved ones admitted to ICU units can have these options. He added that, better than going alone, we want to be part of this journey, not only with the Pseudomonas, but we also have the list of the pathogens of interest that have been announced as a critical concern by the WHO, which includes Klebsiella, Acinetobacter, and others. All of these are our priority targets. “So, our common enemy would be our pathogens,” he said. Other officials present at the ceremony included Prof. Dong Eun Yong, Professor E. O. D. Addo-Yobo (KNUST/WAFCIRC), Professor Otchere Addae-Mensah (Allied Health/KNUST), Dr. Larko D. Owusu (KATH, WAFCIRC), Dr. Beatrice Edusei (WAFCIRC, KATH), Dr. Charles Martyn-Dickens (KATH), Mr. Emmanuel Appiah Sam (WAFCIRC), Professor Jerry John Kponyo (Director, Office of Grants and Research, KNUST), Dr. Mrs. Lilian Antwi Boateng, and the Dean of Allied Health, Professor Oware.