TRIAL: Treatment of Respiratory Infections with inhaled AntimicrobiaLs

由严重急性呼吸系统综合征-2 （SARS-CoV-2）病毒在全球传播引起的冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行，在全球范围内导致惊人的死亡人数，并大大增加了医疗负担，各国都在争先恐后地寻找缓解策略。SARS-CoV-2等病毒感染也可能使患者易患细菌合并感染。事实上，在COVID-19检测呈阳性的患者中，至少有七分之一的人出现了细菌合并感染，这增加了疾病的严重程度和死亡率。由于抗病毒药物对细菌感染没有效果，这些合并感染用抗生素治疗。COVID-19大流行期间抗生素使用量的激增对推动全球抗生素耐药性的增长产生了不利影响。试验的目标是设计和测试与抗菌素捆绑在一起的药物运载工具，以可控的方式提供必要的治疗剂量，以应对病毒和细菌感染。我们实验室正在开发的抗菌剂已显示对多种呼吸道病毒和细菌病原体有效果。由于我们使用的是广谱抗菌素，而不是抗生素，因此我们正在降低产生抗菌素耐药性的风险。这里正在开发的技术是高度新颖的，将在治疗包括COVID-19在内的呼吸道感染方面具有革命性意义。我们汇集了一群世界级的科学家，一位临床医生和一位在各自领域拥有20多年经验的工业合作伙伴，他们将努力实现拟议工作的雄心勃勃的目标。长期目标是加速从实验室到临床的影响，然后是技术的商业化。

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic caused by the global spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome-2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus has led to a staggering number of deaths worldwide and significantly increased burden on healthcare as nations have scrambled to find mitigation strategies. Viral infections such as SARS-CoV-2 can also predispose patients to bacterial co-infections. In fact, at least one in seven patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 have developed bacterial co-infections which have increased the severity and mortality of the disease. Since antiviral drugs have no effect on bacterial infections, these co-infections are treated with antibiotics. This surge in the use of antibiotic use during the COVID-19 pandemic has a detrimental effect in terms of driving the global growth of antibiotic resistance. The goal of TRIAL is to design and test drug delivery vehicles tethered with antimicrobials to deliver the requisite therapeutic dose to tackle viral and bacterial infections in a controlled manner. The antimicrobials that are being developed in our laboratory have shown to have an effect on a wide range of respiratory viruses and bacterial pathogens. As we are using broad spectrum antimicrobials that are not antibiotics and we are therefore lowering the risk of developing antimicrobial resistance. The technology being developed here is highly novel and will be revolutionary in the treatment of respiratory infections including that of COVID-19. We have brought together a group of world-class scientists, a clinician and an industrial partner with over 20 years' experience in their respective fields who will work to achieve the ambitious goals of the proposed work. The long term goal is the acceleration of bench to clinic impact followed by the commercialisation of the technology.