Bugworks Delaware, USA & Bangalore, India
bugworksresearch.com

New class of antibiotics: a ‘superdrug’ to treat superbugs

Bugworks Research India is developing a new antibiotic designed to duck and weave its way into the heart of Gram-negative bacteria, and knock them out

Based in Bangalore, India, Bugworks is developing a new class of antibiotics that could potentially treat a broad range of drug-resistant bacterial infections. The compound is designed to by-pass the efflux pumps of superbugs – to escape or get around one of the bacteria’s defense mechanisms so that it can get to the heart of the superbug and kill it. Bugworks’ lead compound, a Gyrase-topoisomerase inhibitor for the treatment of Gram-negative bacterial infections, is being developed as an intravenous and oral treatment for multi-drug resistant infections. The compound, GYROX, is supported by a CARB-X award.

“A key advantage of GYROX is that it has an ultra low risk of developing resistance because it inhibits two essential targets in the replication machinery of the bacteria,” said V. Balasubramanian, co-founder and Head of Research at Bugworks. “We are in pre-clinical development and aiming to enter clinical development in 2019. With the various push-pull programs that support projects, we are very hopeful of a much accelerated development and launch”.

GYROX is a first-in-class novel chemical entity (NCE) that exhibits potent killing of pan-resistant superbugs such as those resistant to colistin, beta-lactams, cephalosporins, carbapenems, fluroquinolones, and difficult to treat pathogens such as E. coli (including ESBLs, NDM-1), S. aureus (including MRSA), K. pneumoniae (including KPCs), A. baumannii, P. aeruginosa, E. faecalis (including VRE), N. gonorrhoeae, H. influenza, Proteus sp., Citrobacter sp., C. difficile, S. pyogenes, S. pneumoniae, and S. epidermidis.

Published on January 23, 2018