Bayer and Paratek Pharmaceuticals Sign Collaboration Agreement For the Novel Antibiotic BAY 73-6944/PTK 0796
Monday September 15, 11:06 am ET
Paratek to Present First Data on New Class of Antibiotics at 43rd Annual ICAAC
LEVERKUSEN, Germany and BOSTON, Sept. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Bayer AG, Bayer Pharmaceuticals Corp., USA and Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Inc., USA have signed a Collaborative Development and License Agreement for the novel aminomethylcycline antibiotic BAY 73-6944/PTK 0796.
Infections in hospitals are becoming increasingly difficult to treat in large part because of rising bacterial resistance, and new antibiotics with different mechanisms of action are needed. BAY 73-6944/PTK 0796 is a novel antibiotic compound being investigated for the treatment of bacterial infections and is currently in preclinical development. It is the first lead compound selected from a novel group of antibiotics discovered by Paratek, the aminomethylcyclines (AMCs), and has demonstrated broad antibacterial spectrum and particularly potent activity against Gram-positive bacteria that are resistant to conventional antibiotics in preclinical testing.
"Bayer has a long history in antibiotics, and we are committed to further antibiotic development and to strengthening our hospital franchise. BAY 73- 6944/PTK 0796 would complement our existing antibiotic portfolio and is expected to fill an important medical need," said Dr. Wolfgang Plischke, Head of Bayer HealthCare's Pharmaceuticals Division.
"Bayer's commitment to developing lifesaving antibiotics makes them an ideal partner. We look forward to initiating clinical trials and further advancing this promising product with them," said Thomas J. Bigger, President and CEO of Paratek Pharmaceuticals. "This agreement supports our strategy to develop relationships with established pharmaceutical companies that have the capability, expertise and substantial infrastructure to help successfully develop and market innovative products worldwide. Bayer's participation underscores our approach of utilizing the knowledge of bacterial resistance and our proprietary medicinal chemistry expertise to create new classes of antibiotic compounds that will help address the problem of antibiotic resistance."
The agreement provides Bayer a global, exclusive patent and know-how license for the development, manufacturing and marketing of injectable preparations of BAY 73-6944/PTK 0796. According to the agreement, Paratek will contribute to global development costs, retain co-promotion rights and share profits in the U.S., and receive royalties on net sales outside the U.S. In addition Paratek is entitled to receive upfront payments, access to development funds through a convertible funding vehicle and milestone payments during development.
New Scientific Data on the Aminomethylcyclines to be Presented at ICAAC
Dr. Stuart Levy, co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Paratek Pharmaceuticals and Professor of Molecular Biology and Microbiology and of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, will summarize a set of posters regarding BAY 73-6944/PTK 0796, the first aminomethylcycline to be progressed into development. Dr. Levy's presentation will take place at the 43rd Annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) in Chicago, IL, during the Poster Summary Session on New Antimicrobial Agents, Sunday, September 14, 2003, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon.
A Paratek team will present all ten posters that describe the discovery and research evaluation results of the promising new class of antibiotics, the aminomethylcyclines, and BAY 73-6944/PTK 0796, the first lead compound from this new class, which is being jointly developed with Bayer. The AMCs were discovered by Paratek scientists using novel and proprietary medicinal chemistry. The posters will be presented at 10:00 a.m. Monday morning, September 15th, during Session 77F at ICAAC. These posters include:
* "In Vitro Activity of BAY 73-6944/PTK 0796 Against Gram-Positive and
Gram-Negative Organisms," Poster F-754
* "Evaluation of BAY 73-6944/PTK 0796 in Experimental Models of
Infections Caused by Gram-Positive and Gram-Negative Pathogens,"
Poster F-757
* "The Efficacy of BAY 73-6944/PTK 0796 in Murine Models of Streptococcus
pneumoniae Infections," Poster F-758
* "BAY 73-6944/PTK 0796: In Vitro Potency and Spectrum of Activity
Compared to Ten Other Antimicrobial Compounds," Poster F-753
* "BAY 73-6944/PTK 0796: Effects of Environmental Variation on MICs and
Confirmation of Disk Mass," Poster F-756
* "Pharmacokinetics of BAY 73-6944/PTK 0796 in Mouse, Rat and Cynomolgus
Monkey," Poster F-759
* "The Activity of BAY 73-6944/PTK 0796 Against Tetracycline Resistance,"
Poster F-752
* "In Vitro Assessment of Plasma Protein Binding and Metabolic Stability
of BAY 73-6944/PTK 0796," Poster F-760
* "The Mechanism of Action of BAY 73-6944/PTK 0796," Poster F-751
* "BAY 73-6944/PTK 0796 and other Novel Tetracycline Derivatives
Exhibiting Potent in vitro and in vivo Activities Against Antibiotic
Resistant Gram-Positive Bacteria," Poster F-755
About Bayer HealthCare
Bayer HealthCare is part of the worldwide operations of Bayer, a subgroup of Bayer AG. Bayer HealthCare is one of the world's leading innovators in the health care and medical products industry.
Bayer HealthCare combines the global activities of the business groups of Bayer AG in the fields of Biological Products, Consumer Care, Diagnostics, Animal Health and Pharmaceuticals. More than 34,000 employees support the worldwide operations of Bayer HealthCare.
Our work at Bayer HealthCare is to discover and manufacture innovative products for the purpose of improving human and animal health worldwide. Our products enhance well-being and quality of life by diagnosing, preventing and treating disease.
About Paratek Pharmaceuticals
Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is engaged in the discovery and commercialization of new therapeutics that treat serious and life-threatening diseases, with a particular focus on the growing worldwide problem of antibiotic resistance. Paratek's lead programs are advancing novel compounds related to the tetracycline family that can circumvent or block bacterial resistance, as well as drugs that can prevent infection by many gram-negative bacteria by interfering with Multiple Adaptational Response (MAR) mechanisms in bacteria. Out of these efforts, Paratek has discovered a new class of antibiotics, the aminomethylcyclines that target the need for new and potent antibacterials to overcome the problem of rapidly growing bacterial resistance. The Company's lead antibiotic clinical candidate, BAY73-6944/PTK 0796, the first product from this class, is being developed in a collaborative partnership with Bayer AG.
Paratek's established chemistry and drug development groups continue to produce AMCs and other new classes of anti-infectives with enhanced properties. Ongoing research efforts are seeking to discover orally available AMCs and related compounds that may be used to treat resistant bacterial infections in the community setting or outside the hospital, compounds with enhanced anti-inflammatory and neuro-protective properties and improved anti- malarial compounds.
Paratek is privately held and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. For more information, visit Paratek's website at www.paratekpharm.com . |
