Inhibitex, Inc: Antibody Anti-Infectives

Abstract

“We differ from the pack,” explains Johnston. “When you look at clinical development, most everyone else is focused on antibiotics where they are mostly making structural modifications to improve dose timing or dosing format.” He points out that since the advent of antibiotics 60 years ago, “the bugs are mutating and outrunning the chemists,” leading to a reduction in the clinical efficacy of a significant number of approved antibiotics as microbes adapt through evolution. “If you look at the pressure to mutate, organisms eventually seem to develop an alternative pathway to block the cidal activity of antibiotics or find a path around it,” says Johnston. Inhibitex seeks to offer an alternative strategy by focusing on antibodies. “The reason this was not done in the past is because nobody had the appropriate targets,” says Johnston. “Now, we do.”If proven effective, MSCRAMM antibodies would be a valuable anti-infective strategy, particularly in cases in which resistance patterns have exhausted other options. “After examining clinical isolates from around the world, we have seen no evidence that the MSCRAMM target proteins mutate over time,” adds Johnston. Although this finding may not always remain the case, and long-term efficacy with MSCRAMM antibodies is not a guarantee, these new compounds may well prove to be a very welcome therapeutic strategy for reducing infectivity and virulence against life-threatening infection.Chemistry & Biology invites your comments on this topic. Please write to the editors at chembiol@cellpress.com