Telum Therapeutics, Complutense University of Madrid and Carlos III Health Institute discover next-generation antimicrobials against vancomycin-resistant E. faecium

A pioneering R&D project led by Telum Therapeutics, in collaboration with the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) and the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII), has achieved a major scientific and technological milestone in the fight against antimicrobial resistance.

Conducted under the competitive call Public-private partnership projects (CPP) CPP2021-009054 and titled Development of Enzybiotics to Combat Human Infections Caused by Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus faecium [ANTI-VRE], the initiative focused on the discovery of next-generation antimicrobials targeting one of the World Health Organization’s top-priority pathogens. It was funded by Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MCIN) and the European Union through the NextGeneration EU programme.

The project successfully identified a new family of proteins with high activity against vancomycin-resistant E. faecium, exhibiting a previously undescribed mechanism of action. This breakthrough opens the door to radically new therapeutic strategies and was made possible thanks to APEXp®, Telum’s proprietary AI-driven synthetic biology platform designed to discover and engineer precision antimicrobials from anthropogenic microbiomes.

Throughout the project, compounds were isolated, sequenced, and optimized using cutting-edge bioinformatics, protein engineering, and high-throughput analysis. Most notably, the lead candidates showed strong efficacy against biofilms and in in vivo models using clinical isolates of E. faecium resistant to vancomycin—demonstrating both their potency and real-world translational potential.

At a time when new antimicrobial solutions are urgently needed, Telum’s approach offers a powerful alternative: non-antibiotic, resistance-breaking therapeutics with high specificity and scalability. Currently, no similar product exists on the market with this unique mechanism and efficacy profile.

As a result of this success, Telum has submitted a new project focused on conducting the required regulatory studies and preparing a Clinical Trial Application (CTA). This next phase will be key to advancing the program towards clinical validation and strengthens Telum’s position as one of the most innovative biotech companies in the field of next-generation antimicrobials.

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