Pedro Madureira
Chief Scientific Officer, IMMUNETHEP
Scientists are uncovering how bacteria silence the immune system and exploring new ways to block this ‘off switch’ to create vaccines that could stop infections before they start.
When vaccines hit the wall
For decades, we’ve chased ever-changing bacterial surfaces with vaccines and drugs, hoping one more tweak would work. It hasn’t. For many of the deadliest pathogens — E.coli, K.pneumoniae, S.aureus and S.agalactiae — effective vaccines are missing. Expecting a different result from repeating the same playbook is nonsense.
A new target: the ‘off switch’
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: when these bacteria invade, they don’t just hide; they actively silence the immune system. Our research shows a conserved bacterial protein (GAPDH) is excreted within hours of infection, flipping an ‘off’ switch on host immunity. If your body’s alarm is disabled, antibodies against surface molecules won’t save you.
Harnessing immunity to outsmart bacteria
At Immunethep, we’re developing preventive and therapeutic agents that block a bacterial molecule which dampens our immune response — neutralising GAPDH to restore rapid, multi-pathogen protection. It’s like giving each individual’s immune system a pair of special glasses that allows them to see through the GAPDH ‘all-clear’ signal to recognise danger and enable a decisive response.
Antibiotics carpet-bomb our microbiome
and fuel antimicrobial resistance.
Spare the microbiome, slow resistance
Antibiotics carpet-bomb our microbiome and fuel antimicrobial resistance. By restoring immune function rather than blitzing bacteria, we leave beneficial microbes intact and reduce the evolutionary pressure that drives resistance. Prevention without collateral damage is the point.
What to do next
Support trials that validate the mechanism of action, measure microbiome impact alongside efficacy, and fund approaches that change the rules, not repeat them. The bar for innovation
should be higher: protect patients today without mortgaging public health tomorrow.
Where we are now
With the support of CARB-X, Immunethep is developing a proof-of-concept preventive vaccine against E.coli that aims for first-in-human studies by the end of 2026. In parallel, with support from PACE, the company is advancing monoclonal antibodies designed to treat already-infected patients, targeting the same bacterial mechanism to switch immunity on.
