Macrolide Pharmaceuticals Presents New Data on Tool to Differentiate Macrolide Antibacterial Drugs by Risk of Liver Toxicity

WATERTOWN, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Macrolide Pharmaceuticals, a next-generation antibiotics company developing macrolides that are first-in-class with Gram-negative activity for a broad range of infections, today announced the presentation of a poster at this week’s Society of Toxicology Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Tex.

 

The poster describes a novel “virtual liver” platform that effectively differentiates the semi-synthetic ketolides telithromycin (TEL) and solithromycin (SOL), which have been associated with significant liver injury, from the commercially marketed macrolides azithromycin (AZM) and clarithromycin (CLR), which are widely prescribed in community and hospital settings. The platform can be used to simulate the potential liver toxicity risks of novel, fully synthetic macrolides to ensure that only safer compounds enter clinical development.

 

The poster will be presented in the following session:

 

Abstract Title: Differentiation of Liver Injury Risk of Macrolide Antibacterial Drugs Using the Heptox Virtual Liver Platform
Abstract Number/Poster Board number: 3381/ P164
Session Title: Late-Breaking 03: Biological Modeling and Computational Toxicology
Presentation Date and Time: March 15, 2018; 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

 

Macrolide’s lead, preclinical-stage program is developing novel, orally available macrolide antibiotics for serious Gram-negative infections, including complicated urinary tract infections. Bacterial resistance has severely limited the effectiveness of existing therapies for many pathogens, and multi-drug resistant (MDR) pathogens are responsible for an increasing number of infections that do not respond to standard treatment options. Macrolide is leveraging its powerful synthetic chemistry platform to expand the macrolide antibiotic class beyond its traditional Gram-positive spectrum to include MDR Gram-negative pathogens. The platform allows Macrolide to re-engineer the macrolide scaffold from the ground up.

 

 

Macrolide Pharmaceuticals is a next-generation antibiotics company developing macrolides that are first-in-class with Gram-negative activity and have broad applicability across infectious diseases and beyond. The company was founded in 2015 with a fully synthetic technology platform licensed from Harvard University. The platform is a groundbreaking technological advance that holds the foundational key to discover and create new macrolides from basic chemical building blocks that transform this class from its traditional Gram-positive spectrum to include multi-drug resistant (MDR) Gram-negative pathogens. Macrolide is supported and advised by world-class investors, partners, board members, scientific advisors and funding organizations. Its lead program aims to address MDR infections caused by Gram-negative pathogens.

 

Macrolide is headquartered in Watertown, Mass. For more information, please visit the Macrolide website at www.macrolide.com.