Scranton, PA – October 5, 2006. Chaperone Technologies, Inc., a privately-held biotechnology company developing antimicrobials for drug resistant infections and therapeutics for use against selected biowarfare pathogens, announced that it was invited to present its data on a method for increasing antimicrobial synergy in a poster presentation at the 46th annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology’s (ASM’s) Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) in San Francisco last week. ICAAC is the preeminent annual global scientific conference on infectious diseases.
Presented by Dr.Michael Sturgess, Director of Chemistry for Chaperone Technologies, the poster entitled Synergistic In Vitro Activity of DnaK Inhibitors and Levofloxacin Against Gram Negative Organisms, highlights the potential for the combination use of DnaK inhibitors with fluoroquinolone therapy against a range of bacterial pathogens.
According to Dr.Peter C. Appelbaum, Professor of Pathology and Director of Clinical Microbiology at Milton S. Hershey Medical Center (Hershey, PA) and a co-author of the study “The results of this study show increased in vitro activity of a fluoroquinolone agent and a DnaK inhibitor in combination compared to the activity of either agent alone when tested against some key urinary tract infection (UTI) pathogens and Acinetobacter baumanii. Acinetobacter spp. is of special interest as outbreaks of multidrug resistant strains in the hospital setting have recently become more prevalent. Some investigators warn that an increase in prevalence, similar to what we’ve experienced with MRSA (methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus), is possible. Dr. Laura Koeth, president of Laboratory Specialists, Inc, a company that specializes in antimicrobial agent research and surveillance and co-author of the study, states “Our in vitro synergy study of DnaK inhibitor and a fluoroquinolone certainly demonstrated increased bacterial killing of key Gram negative pathogens and the potential for combination therapy. At a time when bacterial resistance to existing antimicrobial agents is increasing, the development of more effective agents is especially important. Effective bacterial killing using combination therapy may be a way of preventing mutation of bacteria and spread of resistant clones.
“Co-administration of a DnaK inhibitor with a quinolone or other antimicrobials to patients suffering from a bacterial infection may prove to have several potential major benefits, such as lowering the necessary therapeutically effective dose; extending the duration of activity of a fixed dose, reducing the likelihood of the development of resistant strains of the infecting organism, and/or expanding the spectrum of activity of the individual agents” says Kenneth E. Kovan, President and CEO of Chaperone Technologies.
About Chaperone Technologies, Inc. Chaperone Technologies Inc. develops antimicrobials, based on a novel target and mechanism of action, for difficult-to-treat and drug-resistant organisms across a broad range of infectious diseases. The company is pursuing treatments for hospital acquired infections, such as those from surgical wounds, respiratory and urinary tract infections, and has a program with the Department of Defense to develop therapeutics for use against selected biowarfare pathogens.
In the search for a superbug killer, Chaperone Technologies is developing a new class of antimicrobials that have the potential to kill any pathogen where it’s unique designed compounds can bind to the organism’s DnaK, a new bacterial target. Belonging to a class of vital bacterial intracellular structures called chaperone molecules, DnaK’s role is to help promote refolding of critical regulatory proteins and enzymes, a necessary process in the life of the pathogen. Chaperone’s products are designed to kill bacterial pathogens by binding to the bacteria’s DnaK and preventing the molecule from doing its protein-repair work, thereby killing the targeted pathogen.
Chaperone’s core technology also includes novel combinations of DnaK inhibitors with other known antimicrobial agents to elicit an enhanced inhibitory effect upon bacterial growth and/or activity, and proprietary high-throughput drug discovery screening tools for identification of compounds that inhibit DnaK for use as bacterial agents. Chaperone’s discovery program has yielded proprietary synthetic peptide analogs and small molecule DnaK inhibitors which could serve as new drug leads.
Chaperone’s research and development activities are conducted in Scranton, PA, and administrative offices are located in Malvern, PA. For more information visit www.chaperonetechnologies.com.
