Elitra Pharmaceuticals Completes Sequencing of Aspergillus fumigatus With Celera
SAN DIEGO, May 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Elitra Pharmaceuticals today announced the complete sequence of the Aspergillus fumigatus genome, a major human fungal pathogen, at 10X depth of coverage. Elitra contracted the sequencing work from Celera Genomics, an Applera Corporation business, in an exclusive agreement. Financial terms of this agreement were not disclosed. This sequence information, when combined with Elitra's proprietary technology for identifying essential genes in microbial pathogens, should enable Elitra to discover new classes of antifungal compounds for the treatment of these potentially life threatening pathogens. Elitra is applying similar proprietary technologies to Aspergillus that it has used to identify over 700 essential gene drug targets in Candida albicans, another major human fungal pathogen.
"This is a very significant milestone in our efforts to develop new drugs to inhibit this deadly pathogen," said J. Gordon Foulkes, Ph.D., Executive Vice President of Research at Elitra. "Aspergillus fumigatus has one of the largest microbial genome sequences, approximately one third of the number of genes present in humans. Sequencing the entire Aspergillus genome is a major technical achievement, and will accelerate our efforts to characterize and file patents on essential gene drug targets in this organism. Celera's technical efficiency and professionalism in completing this sequencing project has been truly outstanding."
Aspergillus fumigatus is the second most common human fungal pathogen after Candida albicans, and is a major cause of mortality among immunocompromised patients. Left untreated, systemic infections almost invariably result in death. Therapeutic success with currently marketed drugs varies widely depending on the site of infection.
Elitra is a leader in antimicrobial functional genomics and is focused on the identification, development and commercialization of novel antimicrobial compounds that target essential gene products of pathogenic organisms. Elitra's ultra-rapid gene-to-lead approach allows it to rapidly proceed from analyzing the genes of bacteria and fungi to testing for effective drug candidates. Elitra has filed patents on over 1,900 essential gene drug targets in pathogenic bacteria and fungi to date. |
