Boosting antibiotics with essential oils: Adnane Remmal named European Inventor Award 2017 finalist
- Moroccan biology professor nominated for European Patent Office (EPO) prize for developing a new method to greatly improve the effectiveness of antibiotics
- Process combines antibiotics with anti-bacterial properties of local plants
- Boosted antibiotics are effective against multi-drug-resistant bacteria, without causing side-effects or contributing to resistance build-up
- EPO President Battistelli: "Remmal’s innovation offers a new tool in the fight against the growing threat of antibiotic-resistant microbes."
Munich, 26 April 2017 - An increasing number of drug-resistant bacteria is becoming a major threat for modern medicine and creating concern around the globe. The more antibiotics are used, the more resistant bacteria become, making infections difficult and sometimes impossible to treat. To help deal with this threat, Moroccan biology professor Adnane Remmal developed an antibiotic booster drug that leverages the natural medicinal properties of plants along with the proven microbe-killing abilities of traditional antibiotics. Remmal's mix of antibiotics and natural essential oils has been shown to be more effective than either of the two on their own. Protected by a patent granted by the EPO in 2014, Remmal used a mixture of natural essential oils and antibiotics to develop a new drug that is currently in the final stages of clinical trials and is expected to enter the market in late 2017.
For this achievement, Adnane Remmal has been nominated for the European Inventor Award 2017 as one of three finalists in the category "Non-EPO Countries". The winners of the 12th edition of the annual innovation prize will be announced at a ceremony in Venice on 15 June.
"Remmal’s innovation, offers a new tool in the fight against the growing threat of antibiotic-resistant microbes," said EPO President Benoît Battistelli, announcing the European Inventor Award 2017 finalists. "It shows that traditional antibiotics and natural essential oils can be combined together for greater effect. Through his work, Remmal is also helping to spearhead pharmaceutical development in his native Morocco."
Combining nature and innovation
The World Health Organisation as well as a number of other actors and governments have made bacterial resistance a top priority. The global scale of the problem makes it difficult to address. Globally, drug-resistant infections already cause around 700 000 deaths per year. This could skyrocket to 10 000 000 annually by 2050, if a new generation of antibiotics is not developed.
This is what makes Remmal's innovation so relevant. He was aware that plants use essential oils as a weapon to fight off bacteria, and his research led him to understand exactly how this works. However, he also realised that large amounts of the essential oils, with a big risk of side effects, would be needed to defeat infections and germs in humans. His solution was to build upon the inherent strengths of both antibiotics and natural essential oils, combining them to increase effectiveness beyond what either offered independently.
In general, antibiotics exploit bacteria's weaknesses by destroying their cellular walls, preventing them from repairing damaged DNA or stopping them from reproducing. Remmal draws a comparison between an antibiotic's molecular working principles to a key unlocking a door: "When the key unlocks the door, the bacteria die. However, when a mutation slightly changes the lock's shape, the key can no longer open it and the bacteria become resistant." By "boosting" the antibiotic with the natural oils, Remmal says he has developed a key that not only opens the lock, but completely destroys the door.
Remmal's special key combines existing standard antibiotics - such as penicillins, cephalosporins and even MRSA antibiotics for difficult-to-treat infections - with the natural antimicrobial properties found in local plants. The interaction between natural "booster" molecules and the antibiotic molecules creates "molecular complexes" that are not easily recognised by bacterial resistance mechanisms. This creates an effective treatment for infections and makes it very difficult - and perhaps impossible - for bacteria to develop an effective resistance.
Remmal obtained his patent for this development in 2014, and also holds two further European patents incorporating essential oils, the linchpin of his approach, namely an anti-fungal preparation and a composition for treating parasites (especially malaria-causing plasmodium falciparum) in patients.
His use of essential oils to tackle multi-drug resistant bacteria does not stop with this pharmaceutical application. Indeed, Remmal has adopted a two-pronged approach because the over-use of antibiotics in livestock is another root cause for resistance. On the veterinary front, Remmal has therefore developed a specific additive that completely replaces antibiotics and other chemicals in animal feed. An EPO patent application has been filed for this veterinary application, and is currently being examined.
An inexpensive solution to what could be a costly problem
A 2016 report from the World Bank estimates that by 2050, the impact of drug resistant bacteria on global healthcare costs could range from EUR 283 billion to more than EUR 984 billion per year. Part of the problem is that creating each new synthesised antibiotic might cost EUR 500 million to EUR 1 billion. And these new drugs carry with them possibilities of new resistance, unknown side effects, and toxicity, along with the risk that the time and effort invested will not produce significant returns.
Because Remmal's pharmaceutical "boosted antibiotics" use natural molecules that are already tested and approved in the pharmaceutical industry, the new drug is inexpensive to produce and can be sold at an affordable price.
Putting Morocco on the pharmaceutical world map
After receiving a postgraduate diploma in electrophysiology and cardiovascular pharmacology and a PhD in molecular pharmacology at the University of Paris XI, Remmal decided to return to his native Morocco despite offers to stay in France. "I wished to plant the seed of scientific research in Morocco which was considered a desert in this field," says Remmal. "Today, I'm overjoyed that this seed has grown into a flowering tree."
Remmal earned a second PhD in microbiology and launched a start-up which filed four patents centred around the natural essential oil mixtures and attracted the attention of a leading pharmaceutical laboratory in Morocco and West Africa. This laboratory has made financial and technological investments to help bring the boosting agents to market. If approved, Remmal's "boosted antibiotics" will be the first drug developed and produced by Morocco's pharma sector. That is a big step for an industry accustomed to manufacturing generics or other drugs under license agreements with foreign drug makers. Its importance is not lost on Remmal. The recipient of Innovation Prize for Africa 2015 for his natural livestock supplement, which is also made from essential oils (and replaces antibiotics), Remmal envisions establishing a multidisciplinary biopharma/agriculture research centre in Morocco that could develop simple but innovative technologies for both emerging and established markets.
Additional resources
- Video and photo material
- Read more about the inventor
- View the patent: EP1879655
The natural medicine cabinet
From aspirin and quinine to digoxin to treat heart conditions and even penicillin, natural sources have provided us with some of our key medicines. While the active ingredients in many medications first discovered in plants have since been synthesised, the natural world may still hold the potential to combat diseases including HIV, Alzheimer's, heart disease and cancer. Sound unlikely? Consider the case of Paclitaxel, a chemotherapy drug derived from the yew tree, which is one of the top cancer fighters of its kind.
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