Who we are ?

The Spanish Association for the Discovery of New Antibiotics in Spain (AD-ES) is a non-profit organization that brings together experts in different disciplines and scientific areas interested in the discovery and development of new antibiotics necessary for the fight against multi-resistant bacteria

Infectious diseases have been and will continue to be a threat to humanity. Antibiotic resistance is one of the major global health challenges facing mankind in the twenty-first century. Political leaders and managers of large private entities have the responsibility to approach the future with a visionary attitude, capable of measuring the consequences of this challenge and taking the necessary measures to mitigate its effects. To combat this threat, urgent and coordinated action is needed, including government, industry, the scientific community and society as a whole.

Domingo Gargallo-Viola
President
Olga Genilloud Rodríguez
Secretary
Youness Ouahid Benkaddour
Treasurer
Eduardo Padilla León
Board Member
Francesc Rabanal Anglada
Board Member
German Bou Arévalo
Board Member
Jesús Oteo Iglesias
Board Member
Jordi Carratalà Fernández
Board Member
Jordi Vila Estapé
Board Member
Maria Eugenia Pachón Ibañez
Board Member
Rafael María Cantón Moreno
Board Member

Mission and vision

Our Mission:

With the aim of discovering and developing new antibiotics, the mission of AD-ES is to collaborate with health authorities and raise awareness among policy makers and public opinion about the phenomenon and problems of antimicrobial resistance and its implication and consequences on global public health, and also to promote the search for new therapeutic agents, antibiotics, vaccines, etc. that will be useful in treating infections caused by resistant pathogens.

Our vision:

Bacterial resistance has no borders and is a universal health problem.  It is essential to think globally and act locally.

We at AD-ES intend to serve as a catalyst between people, groups and entities involved in the fight against infectious diseases, regardless of the scientific field in which they work, in order to promote the exchange of ideas and the creation of multidisciplinary groups. To this end, we try to promote the training of professionals, and promote research in this field, favoring communication between Government, industry, the scientific community, and society in general.

Objectives and priorities

AD-ES is focused on promoting the discovery and development of new antibiotics to combat the phenomenon of antimicrobial resistance, which is considered one of the greatest challenges for global public health in the coming decades.

The objectives of the association are:

To achieve the intended objectives, the following activities will be carried out:

Domingo Gargallo-Viola is a director of Funditec Salud, and founder and CSO of AB2 Therapeutics, a company focused on the discovery and development of antibiotics with targeted or narrow-spectrum activity, with a novel mechanism of action. AB2 prioritizes advancing compounds for the treatment of serious and life-threatening infections due to multi-resistant organisms.

Domingo has over 30 years of experience in anti-infective drug discovery and development and has been a pioneer in advancing precision medicine for the treatment of infectious diseases

In 2014 he founded ABAC Therapeutics, now AB2 Therapeutics. Prior to that he spent 6 years as Head of Infectious Diseases and Director of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Safety Pharmacology at Ferrer, and 18 years as Director of Drug Discovery Biology at GSK. While at GSK and Ferrer, he led several projects that contributed to the discovery of new candidates and the positioning of 2 anti-infective drugs in the market.

Prior to joining GSK, he worked at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Department of Defense, Maryland, USA, and was a Research Associate at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Barcelona.

Domingo is the intellectual author of the PasNas algorithm, a new platform for drug discovery based on the identification and prioritization of new chemical structures with a weighted profile of pharmacological properties.

Domingo has published more than 90 papers in international journals and has supervised several PhD theses. He has received several distinctions, including the Henri Warembourg Faculty of Medicine Medal, awarded by the University of Lille; Medicines for Malaria Venture Foundation Project of the Year Awards (2003, 2004 and 2015) and five GSK R&D Recognition Awards.

He holds a PhD in Science from the University of Barcelona and several Master’s degrees in Management and Management Development from IE and IESE. Domingo is currently President of the Association for the Discovery of New Antibiotics in Spain (AD-ES), Vice President of the Spanish Network for the Development of Alternative Methods in Animal Experimentation (REMA), and is National Representative for Spain of Alliance Biotech companies from Europe innovating in Anti-Microbial resistance research (BEAM)).

 

Olga Genilloud, MEDINA Scientific Director, has a PhD in Chemistry (U. Complutense, Madrid, 1988) and more than 30 years of experience in natural products drug discovery in the academic and clinical environments (Hospital Ramón y Cajal, Madrid, 1984-1988; Harvard Medical School, Boston, 1987) as well as in the pharmaceutical sector (Basic Research Center, MSD, Spain, 1989-2008) , where she contributed to the discovery of key novel antibiotics. Since 2009 she has been managing Fundación MEDINA (http://www.medinadiscovery), where she is also Head of the Microbiology Department. She coordinates discovery programs and international partnerships with academic and industrial partners and has led many national and international research projects with multidisciplinary teams. She is also a member of different international networks and research infrastructures for new drug discovery (EU-OPENSCREEN), particularly in relation to infectious diseases ((IMI-ND4BB-ENABLE, JPIAMR-VRI_IRAADD, GARDP_REVIVE, BEAM Alliance), and expert panels and scientific advisory committees. She has published more than 160 articles and book chapters, as well as 18 international patents.

Youness Ouahid has a PhD in Biology from the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) and  extensive experience in the area of antibiotic development, having worked in several companies in the sector that specialize in obtaining and developing new antibiotics and bioactive compounds of clinical interest. Dr. Ouahid is an expert in innovation and technology transfer, with more than 15 years of experience in promoting health and biotechnology projects with a high potential for innovation evaluation and R&D development and the transfer thereof to the market. Dr. Ouahid has extensive experience as an advisor, consultant and mentor to biotechnology-based companies and health sector projects in both the public and private sectors. He is an entrepreneur in Open Innovation, R&D and TechTransfer Manager, co-founder/partner of several companies in the biotechnology sector and BDO in several Biotech companies that make up the Biotech Holding of the Canaan Group.

Dr. Padilla is Head of Microbiology Service at the Reference Laboratory of Catalunya-Hospital del Mar and Associate Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) in Barcelona. It is part of the Network of Experts of the Spanish Agency of Medicines and Medical Devices for the clinical evaluation of the efficacy and safety of new antimicrobials. He is a collaborator of the National Plan against Antibiotic Resistance (PRAN) for the production of periodic reports of integrated analysis of antibiotic consumption and its relationship with the appearance of resistance in the field of both Human Health and Veterinary. Dr. Padilla has published more than 40 articles in indexed, focused International Scientific Journals, in recent years he did studies of activity and antimicrobial resistance.

Francesc Rabanal is a Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Barcelona. He carried out his PhD in the CID-CSIC in Barcelona and postdoctoral stays in Zeneca Pharmaceuticals (UK) and the School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, first as an EMBO fellow and later as Johnson Research Fellow. His research focuses mainly in the design, synthesis and in vitro and in vivo studies of antimicrobial peptides, particularly polymyxins, with the long-term objective of developing them as future drugs for the treatment of multi-drug resistant infections. He has more than seventy international publications, an h index of 35 (Google Scholar), nine patent applications, and is a recipient of several grants. Finally, he has been assembly member and programme leader in the ENABLE European consortium (European Gram-negative Antibacterial Engine; Innovative Medicines Initiative New Drugs 4 Bad Bugs programme) for the development of antibacterial drugs.

Germán Bou Arévalo has a degree in Pharmacy (Extraordinary End of Degree Award) from the University of Valencia and a doctorate in Biological Sciences (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology) from the Autonomous University of Madrid. He is also a specialist in Microbiology and Parasitology (Hospital Ramón y Cajal, Madrid). After his doctorate he enhanced a stay of almost 2 years at the Mayo Clinic. Rochester,MN (USA) through a Fulbright Scholarship. He is currently Head of the Microbiology Service of the A Coruña University Hospital Complex (CHUAC) and Associate Professor of Microbiology at the University of Santiago de Compostela.

His research activity has been mainly aimed at knowing the mechanisms by which bacteria become resistant to antibiotics, studying the mechanisms of dissemination, as well as developing strategies for early detection and treatment or prevention through strategies not based on antimicrobials. The result of this are 9 patents, one of them PCT in national phases.

He is the author of more than 320 articles in journals with an impact index, he has written popular science and opinion pieces in important newspapers of national impact on bacteria with resistance to multiple antibiotics, and he is regularly invited as a speaker at congresses as well as scientific meetings. of private industry on different aspects related to infections by multiresistant bacteria. At the bibliometric level, it has an H index of 71 and more than 30,000 citations. Highlight some of his publications in Nature, PNAS, J Clin Invest, Nature Communications, J Am Chem Soc, CMR etc.

He is and has been Principal Investigator of numerous National and International Research Projects (European, 7th Framework, Horizon 2020, IMI… ..). At the private funding level he has received the ASPIRE (Pfizer) award and overlapping funding from MSD Global. He has also made scientific collaborations with ABAC Therapeutics. He highlights the recent award of a project financed with European funds from CPI of 5.7 M to develop innovation in microbiological diagnosis. He has just joined the newly created Infectious Diseases Cyber (CIBERINFEC) as PI.

He has been a member of the board of directors of the Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology (SEIMC), President of the SEIMC GEMARA group, member of the Scientific Affairs Subcommitte in the area of antimicrobial resistance and susceptibility testing of the European Society of Infectious Diseases. and Clinical Microbiology (ESCMID) and coordinator of the RETICS REIPI Antimicrobial Resistance program. On an individual basis, he has received various awards: ICAAC Program Committee Award. Resistance and Consequences. American Society of Microbiology, Boston, United States of America (2010); ESCMID Fellow 2017 for professional excellence. European Society Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases; and the prize of the Ibero-American Society of Pharmacy (2018). He is currently a member of the Royal Academy of Pharmacy of Galicia and a member of the editorial team of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology.

Jesús Oteo Iglesias (Madrid, 1968) has a PhD in Medicine from the Complutense University of Madrid, specialized in Clinical Microbiology and Parasitology and he is a Scientific Researcher from the Carlos III Health Institute, where he has been Director of the National Center of Microbiology (2019-2021). He is currently responsible for the Reference and Research Laboratory in Antibiotic Resistance of the Center and the Scientific Director of the CIBER of Infectious Diseases (CIBERINFEC). His research activity has mainly been aimed at understanding the mechanisms by which bacteria become resistant to antibiotics, the bases of their dispersion, as well as developing strategies for their treatment and containment.

He is the author of more than 160 articles in impact index journals, he has written a scientific popularization book about bacteria with resistance to multiple antibiotics, and is regularly invited as a speaker at conferences on different aspects related to multi-resistant bacterial infections. 

He is and has been Principal Investigator of numerous Research Projects both national and international, many of them multicenter with the participation of multiple SNS hospitals with which he has collaborated regularly during his research career. Participates, as an expert, in different national and international initiatives in the fight against antibiotic resistance such as the National Plan against antibiotic resistance (PRAN); the Plan for the Prevention and Control of Infection by Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae of the Autonomous Community of Madrid; and the National System for the Surveillance of Healthcare-Related Infections. In addition, he is coordinator of the National Network of Laboratories for the Surveillance of Resistant Microorganisms (RedLabRA).

He actively collaborates with ECDC, coordinating at national level European networks such as the official European network for surveillance of antibiotic resistance EARS-Net or the European Antimicrobial Resistance Genes Surveillance Network (EURGen-Net). He is currently the Spanish National Focal Point for antimicrobial resistance. 

Jesús Oteo is a member of the Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology (SEIMC), where he has performed management tasks as Secretary of its Board of Directors. He has also been part of the Steering Committees of the SEIMC groups for the study of the Infection in Primary Care (GEIAP), for the study of the infection related to health care (GEIRAS) and for the study of mechanisms of action and resistance to antibiotics (GEMARA), being currently president of GEMARA.

Dr. Jordi Carratalà is a Full Professor of Medicine of the University of Barcelona at the Department of Infectious Diseases at the Bellvitge University Hospital in Barcelona, Spain. Dr. Carratalà is a member of the Executive Committee of the CIBERINFEC. He is also the leader of the Research Group on Infections of the Respiratory Tract and in Immunocompromised Patients of the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) and the SGR Group of Research on Infectious Diseases and Antibiotic Susceptibility of the University of Barcelona. Dr. Carratalà is the author of more than 400 peer-reviewed scientific articles and 59 book chapters. His current H-index is 67 (Web of Science). He was the President of the Catalan Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology (2009-2010) and President of the Transplant Infectious Diseases Study Group (GESITRA) of the Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology (2011-2013). He has been the principal investigator of more than 30 competitive research projects. Dr Carratalà has supervised 18 Doctoral Theses. He is regularly invited to speak at leading national and international conferences.

Jordi is Service Head at Hospital Clínic de Barcelona (Biomedical Diagnostic Center – Microbiology). He has a PhD in Pharmacy from the University of Barcelona (1985) specializing in Microbiology and Parasitology (1983) as well as a Degree in Pharmacy from the University of Barcelona (1978). In addition, he is a lecturerr at  UB in Medical Microbiology in the third year of the Degree of Medicine program, a lecturer in Microbiology, Immunology and Clinical Microbiology on the new Basic Medical Sciences degree program, a lecturer on the Biomedical Engineering Degree program, a Coordinator and lecturer in  in Antimicrobial Chemotherapy on the Master’s Degree in Medicine program (specializing in  Microbiology) and a lecturer on the International Health Master’s Degree program. He held the positions of Scientific Officer of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (2002-09) and Director of the ECCMID Program (2010-2014) and was a member of the Interscience Conference Program Committee  on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, ICAAC (2007-10).

Eugenia has a BSc and a PhD and holds a “Nicolás Monardes” Postdoctoral researcher grant. She works in the Clinical Unit of Infectious Diseases, Microbiology and Preventive Medicine at the  “Virgen del Rocío” University Hospital / Institute of Biomedicine of Seville, Seville, Spain.  She has over 20 years’ experience with in vitro and experimental models of infection for optimizing and testing new anti-infective drugs. She leads the research line “New  antimicrobial and non-antimicrobial therapeutic alternatives in infections by multiresistant Gram-negative bacilli” at the Institute of Biomedicine of Seville, Spain. She also has three intellectual and industrial property patents (PCT/US2021/015072, PCT/EP2017/054252, P201330933). Lastly, she is member of the Executive and Scientific Committees of the Spanish Network for Research in Infectious Diseases (REIPI, ISCIII).

Rafael is a specialist in Clinical Microbiology (1991) and has a PhD in Pharmacy from the Universidad Complutense in  Madrid (1994). He has been Head of the Microbiology service at the Ramón y Cajal University Hospital (Madrid) since 2011 and an associate lecturer in Clinical Microbiology at the Universidad Complutense (Madrid) since 1994. His research work at the Ramón y Cajal Institute for Health Research (IRYCIS) focuses on the study of resistance mechanisms and their epidemiological surveillance, new methods of studying antimicrobial sensitivity and chronic infections of the respiratory tract, mainly in patients with cystic fibrosis. He has published more than 500 articles in scientific journals and has an H index of 74. He is currently coordinator of clinical data of the European Committee of Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) and a member of the Advisory Committee of the Joint Programing Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance (JPIAMR). He is co-editor of the Procedures in Clinical Microbiology of the Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology (SEIMC). He was President of SEIMC between 2015 and 2017 and of EUCAST between 2012 and 2016.

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