Biomimetics for treating biofilm-embedded infections

Multi-drug resistant (MDR) biofilms are perhaps the most difficult bacterial infections to fight. They require novel antibiotics that operate through new mechanisms which overcome the biofilm environment. We have discovered a class of antibiotics that are novel and have new targets which appear to evade resistance development. One example is already in the clinic to systemically treat Staphyloccal infections, including methicillin-resistant S. aureus. In addition, we have shown compounds in this series are active against bacterial and fungal biofilms. This STTR aims to identify a number of lead candidates with single micromolar activity against A. baumanni, S. epidermidis, E. faecalis, P. aeruginosa, E. coli and their drug/multi-drug resistance strains in Phase I. Active compounds that meet criteria for further evaluation (including those that have been shown previously to be active against drug-resistant S. aureus) will then be tested and optimized in Phase II to treat MDR biofilm infections.