MRSA, Staph, Staff, Mersa, Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Symptoms & Treatment

New Antibiotic Class Proves Effective Against MRSA

Link: New Antibiotic Class Proves Effective Against MRSA.

At ECCMID, the annual European Conference on Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Cambridge UK-based Phico Therapeutics presented new data on the rapid bactericial activity of its lead compound against MRSA. PT1.2 belongs to a new class of antibacterial proteins called SASPs that act by binding to bacterial DNA and halting replication and gene expression, resulting in rapid cell death. Phico Therapeutics now intends to take PT1.2 into clinical trials using its unique delivery platform technology called SASPject™ According to Phico Therapeutics CEO Dr Heather Fairhead, these results could lead to a major breakthrough in the fight against both hospital- and community-acquired infection. "The study, carried out in conjunction with the UK's Health Protection Agency, showed that SASP was rapidly bactericidal against all 10 different MRSA isolates gathered from across the US. Indeed in the speed of kill assay, SASP caused a >99.9 % drop in viability within 2 mins against the 10^5 culture and a >99.9 % drop in viability within 10 mins against the 10^7 culture. This data gives us the confidence to take PT1.2 into the clinic. Furthermore, our additional SASPjectTM candidates are showing potential against E. coli, and C. difficile with SASPjectTM targeted to other drug resistant bacteria in development."

New antibody to help fight MRSA

Link: Laureate Pharma, Inc. :: Laureate Pharma Announces Manufacturing Agreement With Alopexx Pharmaceuticals, LLC.

Laureate Pharma, Inc., a full-service biopharmaceutical development and protein production company, today announced that it has entered into a cGMP contract manufacturing agreement with Alopexx Pharmaceuticals, LLC. According to the agreement, Laureate will produce Alopexx's mAb F598 antibody under cGMP conditions. This antibody is planned for use in clinical trials, and later for commercial production for the treatment and prevention of Staphylococcus aureus infections. Terms of the manufacturing agreement were not disclosed.

Alligator blood could help fight MRSA

Link: Alligators could help fight MRSA - Telegraph.

Despite their reputation for deadly attacks on humans and pets, alligators are wiggling their way toward a new role as potential lifesavers, says Dr Kermit Murray of Louisiana State University. He tells the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society in New Orleans that proteins in gator blood may provide a source of powerful new antibiotics to help fight superbugs, along with infections associated with diabetic ulcers and severe burns. Their study is the first to explore the antimicrobial activity of alligator blood in detail. "We're very excited about the potential of these alligator blood proteins as both antibacterial and antifungal agents," says co-author Dr Mark Merchant. "There's a real possibility that you could be treated with an alligator blood product one day."

'Healing Clays' Show Promise For Fighting Deadly MRSA

Link: 'Healing Clays' Show Promise For Fighting Deadly MRSA Superbug Infections, Other Diseases.

In the new study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, Willams and her colleagues collected more than 20 different clay samples from around the world to investigate their antibacterial activities. In collaboration with study co-leader Shelley Haydel, Ph.D., a microbiologist with Arizona State, the researchers tested each of the clays against several different bacteria known to cause human diseases. These bacteria include MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), Mycobacterium ulcerans (a microbe related to the tuberculosis bacterium that causes a flesh-eating disease known as Buruli ulcer), as well as E. coli and Salmonella (which cause food poisoning). The researchers identified at least three clays that killed or significantly reduced the growth of these bacteria.

Penicillin Could Be Back In Battle Against Antibiotic Resistant Bugs

Link: Penicillin Could Be Back In Battle Against Antibiotic Resistant Bugs That Kill Millions.

Research led by the University of Warwick has uncovered exactly how the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae has become resistant to the antibiotic penicillin. The same research could also open up MRSA to attack by penicillin and help create a library of designer antibiotics to use against a range of other dangerous bacteria. Worldwide Streptococcus pneumoniae causes 5 million fatal pneumonia infections a year in children. In the US it causes 1 million cases a year of pneumococcal pneumonia in the elderly of which up to 7% are fatal.  Penicillin normally acts by preventing the construction of an essential component of the bacterial cell wall: the Peptidoglycan. This component provides a protective mesh around the otherwise fragile bacterial cell, providing the mechanical support and stability required for the integrity and viability of cells of Streptococcus pneumoniae and other bacteria including MRSA. The researchers targeted a protein called MurM that is essential for clinically observed penicillin resistance and has also been linked to changes in the chemical make up of the peptidoglycan that appear in penicillin resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae isolated from patients with pneumococcal infections. The researchers found that MurM acted as an enzyme that was key to the formation of particular structures within the S. pneumoniae peptidoglycan called dipeptide bridges that link together strands of the peptidoglycan mesh that contributes to the bacterial cell wall. The presence of high levels of these dipeptide bridges in the peptidoglycan of Streptococcus pneumoniae is a pre-requisite for high level penicillin resistance.

FDA Says it Has 'Outstanding Issues' With Theravance Skin Antibiotic

Link: FDA Says it Has 'Outstanding Issues' With Theravance Skin Antibiotic - WSJ.com.

The Food and Drug Administration said Monday it still had several "outstanding issues" with a proposed Theravance Inc. antibiotic that is being developed to treat skin infections. The agency had canceled an advisory committee meeting scheduled for Wednesday that was set to evaluate the drug, televancin. The product is being developed with Astellas Pharma Inc. of Tokyo. But the agency said in a statement that the meeting was being canceled to "allow time for the FDA to review and resolve several outstanding issues." The FDA said it would schedule an advisory committee meeting in the future, if needed. Televancin is a once-daily injectable antibiotic that would be used to treat skin infections, including those caused by resistant bacteria like methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA.

Superbug on the run

Link: Superbug on the run.

Superbug on the run Anti-MRSA microbe isolated. But researcher cautions a cure is still years and millions of dollars away A Halifax researcher has made promising findings in the fight against one of the superbugs infecting cities and hospitals across Canada. David Jakeman, a scientist at Dalhousie University, has isolated a microbe that appears to battle methicillin-resistant staphylococcus (MRSA), a form of staph infection resistant to most antibiotics. Jakeman said yesterday the results are sufficiently promising that his lab wants to repeat the experiments as well as evaluate other compounds with similar structures. "It's all very preliminary at the moment," he cautioned. "Some of those natural products we've isolated, we've shown they have good activity against MRSA and that's why we're exploring more fully the compounds that these bacteria produce," Jakeman said.

Biotechs toiling on new antibiotics for extra-tough bugs

Link: Biotechs toiling on new antibiotics for extra-tough bugs - Feb. 14, 2008.

"Antibiotics were considered an area that you couldn't make a lot of money in," said Rachel McMinn, an analyst for Cowen and Co., "so Big Pharma made the decision to get out, and biotechs filled that gap," with a pipeline of new treatments. If their products get government approval, she said, they could lead to a multibillion-dollar market. Oritavancin, an antibiotic for skin infections including MRSA, is awaiting decision from the Food and Drug Administration. Its maker, the biotech Targanta Therapeutics (TARG), submitted its approval application on Feb. 11, and the review could be completed this year. Cethromycin from Advanced Life Sciences (ADLS) finished late-stage studies and is on track for FDA submission. The antibiotic has been studied as a guard against pneumonia, but Chief executive Michael Flavin said it could possibly be used for staph infections. Faropenem, from Replidyne (RDYN), is in early-stage tests for MRSA. An antibiotic from privately held Paratek Pharmaceuticals is in early-stage tests for community and hospital infections. And Cubist's (CBST) fast-growing antibiotic Cubicin, which is already on the market, is being tested for a variety of other infections.

Bacterial toxin closes gate on MRSA immune response

Link: Bacterial toxin closes gate on immune response.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have demonstrated that a bacterial toxin from the common bacterium Staphylococcus aureus shuts down the control mechanism of the tunnel, called an ion channel, in immune cell membranes. Shutting down ion channels has long been known to suppress the immune response, and the bacteria may use the toxin to neutralize host defenses against bacteria. The study is published in the February 14 issue of Nature.

Scientists to unleash potent proteins in hospital superbug battle

Link: Scientists to unleash potent proteins in hospital superbug battle - National News, Frontpage - Independent.ie.

A TEAM of researchers at the Royal College of Surgeons is hoping to make a breakthrough in the battle against MRSA and other hospital superbugs. The group, headed by Dr Marc Devocelle, believes it may have discovered how to treat patients with powerful proteins that can kill off resistant strains of superbugs -- without harming humans. The proteins, called host defence peptides, have been identified as a major weapon in the fight against resistant strains of bacteria and cancer cells. However, they are so potent that they could be toxic when affecting the entire body. Dr Devocelle believes he has developed a way of activating them only at the site of infection, where they can kill off MRSA without harming patients. These proteins could also kill bacteria that cause life-threatening bloodstream infections and can be resistant to all available antibiotics (multi-drug resistant bacteria). "During a research programme funded by Science Foundation Ireland, we have designed and developed the drug delivery systems for both MRSA and multi-drug resistant bacteria," he says. "In collaboration with Beaumont Hospital, we have already proved that it can work on some laboratory bacteria and we are currently optimising the drugs to make sure they are active on clinical bacteria, which are far more aggressive.