Creating More Effective Antibiotics to Treat Illnesses Caused by Antimicrobial-Resistant ESKAPE Pathogens

SLU ID 17-002 | Novel Antibiotic Candidates Based on Inhibitors of Nucleotidyltransferase Superfamily Enzymes

Background

The emergence of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria is a rapidly growing concern in public health. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that drug-resistant bacteria cause over 2 million illnesses and approximately 23,000 deaths each year in the United States alone. There are few candidate drugs in the pipeline that offer benefits over existing drugs and few drugs moving forward that will treat infections due to the so-called “ESKAPE” pathogens (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter species), which cause the majority of U.S. hospital infections and effectively “escape” the effects of approved antibacterial drugs.

Overview

Researchers at Saint Louis University (SLU) have created a set of compounds that inhibit growth of bacteria including Staphlococcus saprophyticus (S. saprophyticus), Staphlococcus aureus (S. aureus), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), coagulase negative staphylococcus (MRCNS), methicillin-resistant CNS (MRCNS), E.coli, multi-drug resistance (MDR) E .coli, Citrobacter koseri, Enterobacter cloacae complex, Morganella morganii, Klebsiella pneumonia and Acinetobacter baumannii. The compounds target the nucleotidyl-transferase enzymes and include tropolones, α-hydroxytropolones, troponoids, napthyridinones, quinolonic acid, elvitagravir derivatives and ciclopirox-like.

Benefits

The potential benefits of this technology include:

• Increasing treatment options for illnesses caused by antimicrobial-resistant "ESKAPE" pathogens.

• Minimizing the number of deaths due to illnesses caused by antimicrobial-resistant "ESKAPE" pathogens.

• Minimizing hospital infections

Applications

This technology has potential application for treating various illnesses caused by antimicrobial-resistant "ESKAPE" pathogens including:

• Staphlococcus saprophyticus (S. saprophyticus)

• Staphlococcus aureus (S. aureus)

• methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)

• coagulase negative staphylococcus (MRCNS)

• methicillin-resistant CNS (MRCNS)

• E. coli

• multi-drug resistance (MDR) E. coli

• Citrobacter koseri

• Enterobacter cloacae complex

• Morganella morganii

• Klebsiella pneumonia

• Acinetobacter baumannii

Opportunity

Saint Louis University is seeking partners to further develop and commercialize this technology.