DiagnosticsNew UK Developed Anti-Bacterial Drug {Metallo-Porphyrin} Unveiled At Leading European Microbiology Congress
Yesterday"s 19th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) conference in Helsinki reported a significant addition to the dwindling number of drugs in the fight against the hospital "Superbug", Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
UK-based pharmaceutical company Destiny Pharma presented research into the rapid anti-bacterial activity of its latest platform of drugs against Staphylococcus aureus on the second day of the conference. Whilst the company"s lead anti-microbial XF-73 continues on course within Phase I/IIa clinical development, Destiny has now demonstrated the novel anti-bacterial mechanism of action of DPD-207. This is an example of its new platform of Metallo-Porphyrin (MP) drugs which has been proven to act in a similar manner to the XF drug platform.
The XF drugs:
1. Kill bacteria extremely quickly (much faster than traditional antibiotics)
2. Bacteria such as MRSA seem unable to become resistant to XF/MP drug action (unlike many antibiotics to which the Superbug can rapidly become resistant)
3. Kill bacteria within biofilms (the protective "jelly" bacteria produce around themselves, which acts as a protective barrier against antibiotics)
The MP drugs appear to share many of the same revolutionary and highly advantageous anti-bacterial properties of the XF drugs.
The MP drug platform represents a significant expansion of the Destiny Pharma drug portfolio.
More information about MRSA
In the USA around 126,000 people are hospitalised each year with MRSA-related infections
resulting in 19,000 fatalities. In the UK, MRSA causes over 6,000 serious bloodstream infections
each year and results in at least 1,600 deaths. Healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs)
predominantly caused by MRSA, are estimated to cost the NHS over ÷£1 billion every year and the
US economy more than $30 billion
More information about the XF series
The XF compounds are bactericidal rather than bacteriostatic; killing the bacteria instead of just
limiting population growth. These compounds have a unique structure based on a porphyrin core
and are chemically distinct from all existing antimicrobial therapies.
In laboratory studies, the XFs are active against a wide variety of clinically important gram-positive bacteria, including the most common and problematic MRSA strains and two clinical isolates of Clostridium difficile.
Destiny Pharma