When global health leaders convened at the United Nations in September 2024, antimicrobial resistance took center stage as one of the most critical issues facing medicine today. Antibiotic resistance is not a future threat, it is happening right now. Diseases once easily treated with antibiotics have become harder to manage, and infections increasingly evade the drugs designed to stop them. With new antibiotic development lagging behind, researchers and health experts are looking to alternative strategies like metamaterial science to help reverse this concerning trend.
Antibiotics were groundbreaking in the early 20th century. They drastically reduced mortality from infections such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, and even minor wounds. However, bacteria have steadily evolved, finding ways to neutralize these medicines. The more antibiotics we use — especially improperly or unnecessarily — the faster bacteria adapt, rendering treatments ineffective. Today, even common bacterial infections pose greater health risks, often requiring more complex, costly, and longer treatments.
The implications are significant and extend beyond hospitals and clinics. Antibiotic-resistant infections are estimated to cause millions of deaths worldwide each year and significantly impact healthcare budgets, stretching resources thin. Health experts warn that without urgent intervention, antimicrobial resistance could become a leading cause of death globally by 2050.
Addressing antibiotic resistance through conventional methods alone has proven difficult. Developing new antibiotics is incredibly challenging. It requires significant investment and overcoming complex regulatory hurdles. Even successful new drugs frequently lose effectiveness as bacteria adapt. Incremental changes to existing antibiotic classes are insufficient because bacteria quickly evolve to counteract familiar approaches.
This challenge has pushed researchers to look toward radically different strategies, among them the use of Metamaterial science. Metamaterial science involves engineering materials at an incredibly small scale —billionths of a meter — to exploit properties that don't exist at larger scales. This field of science, although relatively young, has the promise to revolutionize several areas, including electronics, materials science, and medicine.
One particularly promising area within metamaterial science is the use of metamaterials to fight bacterial infections. Metamaterials can be composed of various substances, but recent research highlights silver-based metamaterials because of silver’s longstanding antibacterial properties. While silver itself has historically been used in wound dressings and medical tools, its broader medical use was previously limited due to toxicity and stability concerns related to silver ions released from traditional silvers.
EVOQ is currently leading this work with a proprietary metamaterial called EVQ-218, the only non-ionic silver metamaterial of its kind in the metamaterial science space today. EVQ-218 metamaterials maintain stability and avoid harming healthy cells, opening the door to safer, more effective medical applications.
What sets EVQ-218 apart is its novel mechanism of action. Instead of attacking bacteria and breaking the cell walls, as conventional antibiotics often do, EVQ-218 enters the bacterial cells and disrupts crucial metabolic processes. Specifically, the metamaterials target sulfur, which is a fundamental element bacteria need to generate energy and maintain cellular function. By effectively starving bacteria of sulfur, these metamaterials cause the bacterial cells to die from the inside out.
This approach has significant advantages. Because bacterial cell walls remain intact during this process, bacteria don't release the usual biochemical distress signals associated with cell damage. Normally, these signals prompt nearby bacterial cells to mutate, ultimately resulting in resistance. By avoiding these distress signals, EVQ-218 metamaterials may substantially reduce the risk of resistance emerging.
In laboratory studies, prolonged exposure to EVQ-218 showed no signs of bacterial resistance developing. This marks a striking contrast to many antibiotics, which often see resistance within a matter of days or weeks. Tests have shown effectiveness against some of the toughest resistant strains identified by global health authorities, including Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
These pathogens cause severe infections, especially in healthcare settings, and remain notoriously difficult to treat. EVQ-218 has been tested against six of the World Health Organization’s top-priority resistant pathogens and shown strong performance in preclinical studies.
One potential application of these metamaterials is treating persistent lung infections, such as those experienced by cystic fibrosis patients. In cystic fibrosis, thick mucus in the lungs traps bacteria. This creates infections that antibiotics struggle to reach effectively. EVQ-218 metamaterials, however, can penetrate deeply into lung tissues, bypassing natural barriers like mucus production and the body's clearance mechanisms. Animal studies have shown metamaterials successfully reaching these deeper lung regions. This suggests EVQ-218 could be a promising way to treat pulmonary and other types of infections that have long resisted standard therapies.
EVQ-218 is currently being developed in an inhaled therapeutic by EVOQ Bio, a division of EVOQ, with support from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The company recently completed a pre-IND meeting with the FDA, positioning it to move into early clinical trials.
The potential benefits of these metamaterials extend beyond treating chronic infections. Medical devices such as catheters, surgical instruments, and implants are common sources of hospital-acquired infections, affecting millions of people each year worldwide. EVOQ is also working to integrate EVQ-218 into medical devices, which would enhance patient safety and decrease healthcare costs.
Outside healthcare, these metamaterials might also help control bacterial spread in public and commercial spaces. Incorporating antimicrobial metamaterials into textiles and frequently touched surfaces could mitigate the transmission of infections without harmful chemical disinfectants. Facilities like hotels, gyms, airports, and schools could benefit from safer, sustainable alternatives to chemical-based cleaning agents.
Through its FUZE Technologies division, EVOQ is already deploying EVQ-218 in textiles and surfaces used by global brands in hospitality, fitness, and commercial industries. The product is EPA-approved and designed to deliver long-lasting antimicrobial protection without toxicity or chemical runoff.
Despite these promising developments, metamaterials alone aren't sufficient to eliminate antibiotic resistance. Addressing this complex issue will require a multifaceted strategy combining responsible antibiotic stewardship, public education about appropriate antibiotic use, improved sanitation practices globally, and sustained scientific innovation.
In addition, metamaterials must undergo clinical trials and careful regulatory oversight. These processes require collaboration across scientific disciplines, healthcare providers, policymakers, and regulatory agencies. In short, global cooperation will be essential if we're to solve for antibiotic resistance.
- Metamaterial's role in combatting antibiotic resistance highlights the potential for new technologies to transform longstanding health challenges. Metamaterials offer an encouraging example of how new scientific approaches can complement traditional methods and expand the toolkit available to healthcare providers worldwide.
- As the only company developing this novel, non-ionic metamaterial technology, EVOQ is helping to shape what next-generation antibacterial technologies could look like across medicine, devices, and public health infrastructure.
Ultimately, while antibiotic resistance remains a major public health challenge, technologies like metamaterials give us reasons to remain optimistic. Each new discovery adds critical options to our arsenal against dangerous pathogens. By continuing to invest in research, the global community stands a better chance of protecting future generations from the looming threat of untreatable infections.