East Stroudsburg, PA – October 31, 2008 Chaperone Technologies, Inc., a privately-held biotechnology company developing an entirely new class of antimicrobials, announced today that it has received a Notice of Allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for one of its patent applications with claims directed in part to a method of significantly amplifying the effectiveness of other antimicrobials by combining their use with that of a bacterial hsp70 protein inhibitor. It is the first patent covering the use of hsp70 protein inhibitors in combination with current antimicrobials, and represents a major step in the global fight against resistant bacteria. The company was recently invited to present a study on combination use at the 48th annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology’s (ASM’s) Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) in Washington DC. ICAAC is the preeminent annual global scientific conference on infectious diseases.
Chaperone’s antimicrobial program focuses on development of peptide as well as small molecule hsp70 inhibitor drugs that block the effect of this important class of molecular “chaperones” whose role is to help mediate or respond to toxic misfolded proteins within bacteria. Inhibition of this critical bacterial protein has been proven to kill bacterial pathogens. Besides antimicrobials, the inhibition of hsp70 molecular chaperone proteins present in other cell-types has a range of therapeutic applications that are being investigated by the company.
Dr. Michael A. Sturgess, VP of Research & Development for Chaperone Technologies says “We believe this to be a powerful piece of intellectual property for the company, as the claims include the use of any hsp70 inhibitor with any antimicrobial drug. We expect that such combination use will be a significant application for hsp70 inhibitors. Although Chaperone is arguably the leader in hsp70 protein inhibitors, even if another group develops a similar drug, this patent confers a major proprietary position to us when these agents are used in combination therapy.” The Company is working on a range of small molecule and other low weight hsp70 protein inhibitors and is closing in on drug candidates for subsequent human testing. “We are especially excited about the emerging potency and long half-life of these low weight drug candidates,” says Sturgess.
Combining a bacterial hsp70 inhibitor with another antimicrobial such as one from the quinolone class of drugs yields increased bacterial killing of clinically important 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 such combination therapies provides unique opportunities to minimize the mutation of bacteria, the spread of resistant strains, and also lower the side effects present in some current antimicrobials. Chaperone is also currently working with the Department of Defense to explore the use of hsp70 protein inhibitors against Category A biothreat agents.
“Bacterial resistance to current antimicrobials is becoming a severe problem worldwide, and many popular antimicrobial drugs may not be effective treatment options in the near future. With few if any truly innovative drugs in development to improve therapeutic choices, combination therapy may currently be the only option to treat these resistant strains” says Kenneth E. Kovan, President and CEO of Chaperone Technologies.
______________________________________________________________________________ About Chaperone Technologies, Inc. Chaperone Technologies Inc. develops novel antimicrobials that target cellular hsp70 proteins for difficult-to-treat and drug-resistant organisms across a broad range of infectious diseases. The company is pursuing combination and monotherapies 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.
Chaperone’s research and development activities are conducted in East Stroudsburg, PA, and administrative offices are located in Radnor, PA. For more information visit www.chaperonetechnologies.com or call the Company at (610) 977-0888.
