Scientists from the University of Wollongong are among a team which has developed a new antibacterial compound (AVX13616) which is active against microorganisms currently resistant to existing antibiotics.

The antibacterial compound has been designed and developed by researchers from UOW's Centre for Medicinal Chemistry and scientists at the Melbourne based drug-discovery and development company Avexa*. The compound has been licensed to the Swiss Drug Development Company Valevia for clinical development.

If successful, the Valevia deal could be worth up to $US65 million to Avexa with potential benefits to the University of Wollongong.

The UOW team of Professor John Bremner, Associate Professor Paul Keller, Professor Stephen Pyne and Dr Kittiya Somphol has been working on the discovery of novel antibacterial agents for more than 10 years with support from Avexa and two National Health Medical Research Council (NHMRC) development grants.

"Uniquely, and importantly, this new antibacterial agent is effective on several different drug-resistant bacterial strains, including golden staph, for which effective treatments are very limited," Professor Pyne said.

Other novel antibacterials are currently being developed by the UOW team.

[*Avexa Ltd is a Melbourne-based biotechnology company with a focus on discovery, development and commercialisation of small molecules for the treatment of infectious diseases].