FLAGELLIN AEROSOL THERAPY AS AN IMMUNOMODULATORY ADJUNCT TO THE ANTIBIOTIC TREATMENT OF DRUG-RESISTANT BACTERIAL PNEUMONIA

Bacterial pneumonia is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Standard care with antibiotics is often complicated by antimicrobial resistance (AMR), resulting in curative failure. The EU-funded FAIR project aims to assess an adjunct to antibiotic therapy as an emerging concept to overcome AMR in pneumonia. The research focuses on the unique immunomodulator flagellin that enhances airway epithelial innate immune defences, and the development of airway-specific aerosol delivery by nebulisation. FAIR's main objectives include optimisation of nebulisation and demonstration of flagellin-associated enhancement of the antibiotic response, as well as obtaining pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics models for clinical validation and assessing flagellin nebulisation safety in a Phase I clinical trial.