of Health WhenAntibiotics Stop Working (NAPSA)—Today’s overpre- scription and misuseof antibiotics have led to the genesis of so-called “superbugs”—bacteria that are resistant to drug therapy. Fortunately, cutting-edge research has led to a breakthrough that may endthis vicious cycle of resistance. Survival Of The Fittest The increased prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is not only due to overprescription;it also has an evolutionary aspect. Organ- ism populations, bacteria included, naturally include several types with unusual traits. In the case of bacteria, one of these traits is the ability to withstand an antibiotic’s attack. When a person takes an antibiotic, the drug kills the defenseless bacteria, but leaves behind those that can resist it. These renegade bacteria multiply and their numbers eventually become the predominantstrain. Dangers Lurking In Hospitals In hospitals, nearly 2 million patients contract infections each year and roughly 90,000 die as a result, according to the U.S. Cen- ters for Disease Control and Pre- vention. A big part of the problem is that more than 70 percent of bacteria that cause hospitalacquired infections are resistant to at least one of the drugs commonly used to treat them. A New Approach Using computational drug design technology developed at the University of Pennsylvania, re- searchers at PolyMedix, Inc., a publicly traded drug development company, are developing a novel antibiotic that addressesthe resistance issue head-on. By creating small molecules that mimic nat- A newtype of medical research has led to the development of antibiotics that may conquer drug-resistant infections. (and hence the organism itself). Modern antibiotics must alter the organism’s biochemical machin- ery in order to conquerit, often taking days to work. These natural host defense proteins have a direct physical action on the cell mem- brane itself, making it much more difficult for bacteria to develop resistance. Traditionally, antibiotics often must get inside the bacterial cell, and generally target biochemical targets such as enzymes. The bacterium resists the drug by changing the target or simply pumping outthe antibiotic. As Nick Landekic, chief executive officer at PolyMedix, explains, “Our antibiotic directly breaks the bacterial cell membrane within minutes, very muchlike a needle going into a balloon. Because of that, bacteria are muchless likely to develop resistance, and this has been confirmed in our preclinical studies to date. The fact that natural host defense proteins have remained effective since before man appeared on earth suggests that microorganisms have ural host defense proteins (defensins), PolyMedix is develop- not developed resistance to them, destroy the microbial cell wall To learn more, visit the Web site at www.polymedix.com. ing antibiotic drugs and antimicrobial materials that very rapidly, simply and directly destabilize and despite hundreds of millions of years of evolution.”
