I think it was mentioned on this thread by that renegade Yahoo poster San_Jorge. <g> But it received no special mention from XOMA as yet.
Or I am wrong and it was included in the XOMA release on the 4 patents.
BTW the U of W lectures are interesting. There are very good reasons why the Cystic fibrosis trial is important and also good reasons to believe that Neuprex should overcome anti-biotic resistance.
"Pseudomonas aeruginosa is notorious for its resistance to antibiotics and is, therefore, a particularly dangerous and
dreaded pathogen. The bacterium is naturally resistant to many antibiotics due to the permeabiliity barrier afforded by its
outer membrane LPS. Also, its tendency to colonize surfaces in a biofilm form makes the cells impervious to therapeutic
concentrations antibiotics. Since its natural habitat is the soil, living in association with the bacilli, actinomycetes and
molds, it has developed resistance to a variety of their naturally-occuring antibiotics. Moreover, Pseudomonas
maintains antibiotic resistance plasmids, both R-factors and RTFs, and it is able to transfer these genes my means of the
bacterial processes of transduction and conjugation. Only a few antibiotics are effective against Pseudomonas,
including fluoroquinolone, gentamicin and imipenem, and even these antibiotics are not effective against all strains. The
futility of treating Pseudomonas infections with antibiotics is most dramatically illustrated in cystic fibrosis patients,
virtually all of whom eventually become infected with a strain that is so resistant it cannot be treated."
AND
"Respiratory infections. Respiratory infections caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa occur almost exclusively in
individuals with a compromised lower respiratory tract or a compromised systemic defense mechanism. Primary
pneumonia occurs in patients with chronic lung disease and congestive heart failure. Bacteremic pneumonia commonly
occurs in neutropenic cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Lower respiratory tract colonization of cystic fibrosis
patients by mucoid strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa is common and difficult, if not impossible, to treat." |
