New antibiotic class showing no resistance development
GmPcides represent a novel class of antibiotics with rapid bactericidal effect on Gram-positive bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes and Enterococcus ssp, including drug-resistant strains such as MRSA and VRE. GmPcides fulfil WHO innovativeness criteria, such as belonging to a new chemical class and showing no cross-resistance to existing antibiotics.
QureTech Bio’s lead program is focusing on developing a new monotherapy for systemic treatment of serious infections caused by Gram-positive bacteria, including Acute bacterial skin and skin-structure infections (ABSSSIs). The program is currently in lead optimization phase.
New class
Proprietary new class of small molecules with excellent microbiological profile based on a robust and reliable chemical platform that allows fine tuning of properties important for drug development.
Bactericidal effect on antibiotic-resistant bacteria
GmPcides effectively and rapidly kills bacteria, while sparing human cells. Importantly, GmPcides retain activity against nondividing bacteria (stationary-phase, persister cells and biofilm) where current antbiotics rarely are effective.
No pre-existing resistance
MIC90 in recent clinical isolates of S. aureus and Enterococcus ssp show a narrow distribution of MICs and there are no signs of pre-existing reduced susceptibility to GmPcides.
Novel mechanism of action
GmPcides target regulatory proteins controlling metabolism and virulence, and to our knowledge, these regulatory proteins have not been targeted before.
Key Publications
- Dihydrothiazolo ring-fused 2-pyridone antimicrobial compounds treat Streptococcus pyogenes skin and soft tissue infection.Zou Z, Singh P, Pinkner JS, Obernuefemann CLP, Xu W, Nye TM, Dodson KW, Almqvist F, Hultgren SJ, Caparon MG. Sci Adv. 2024 Aug 2;10(31):eadn7979. Epub 2024 Aug 2. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adn7979.
- Ring-fused 2-pyridones effective against multidrug-resistant Gram-positive pathogens and synergistic with standard-of-care antibiotics
Nye TM, Tükenmez H, Singh P, Flores-Mireles AL, Obernuefemann CLP, Pinkner JS, Sarkar S, Bonde M, Lindgren AEG, Dodson KW, Johansson J, Almqvist F, Caparon MG, Hultgren SJ. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022 Oct 25;119(43):e2210912119. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2210912119.
- Chemical disarming of isoniazid resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Flentie K, Harrison GA, Tükenmez H, Livny J, Good JAD, Sarkar S, Zhu DX, Kinsella RL, Weiss LA, Solomon SD, Schene ME, Hansen MR, Cairns AG, Kulén M, Wixe T, Lindgren AEG, Chorell E, Bengtsson C, Krishnan KS, Hultgren SJ, Larsson C, Almqvist F, Stallings CL. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019 May 21;116(21):10510-10517. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1818009116.
- Methyl sulfonamide substituents improve the pharmacokinetic properties of bicyclic 2-pyridone based Chlamydia trachomatis inhibitors
Kulén M, Núñez-Otero C, Cairns AG, Silver J, Lindgren AEG, Wede E, Singh P, Vielfort K, Bahnan W, Good JAD, Svensson R, Bergström S, Gylfe Å, Almqvist F. Medchemcomm. 2019 Oct 17;10(11):1966-1987. doi: 10.1039/c9md00405j.