Wednesday June 21, 2:07 pm Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: PathoGenesis Corp.
PathoGenesis Scientists Report on Potential New Anti-Tuberculosis Compound
Findings Suggest The Drug Candidate Could Be Effective Against Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis
SEATTLE, June 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Tuberculosis (TB) kills two million people annually, and health authorities are detecting increased numbers of TB strains that are resistant to current drug therapy. Despite these troubling facts, no new class of anti-TB drugs has been developed in more than 30 years. Today's issue of Nature reports on a promising new class of drugs with potent activity against tuberculosis, including multi-drug resistant strains.
Scientists from PathoGenesis Corp. (Nasdaq: PGNS - news) and collaborating researchers reported on a lead compound, PA-824, and more than 300 related compounds in the nitroimidazopyran (NAP) class of antibiotics. The researchers discovered that more than 100 of these compounds could destroy TB, including multi-drug resistant strains, in the laboratory and in mice. PA-824 was chosen for additional analysis because of its promising characteristics in animal infection models.
``PA-824 showed excellent activity against all the intractable multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis bacteria strains we tested,'' explained C. Kendall Stover, Ph.D., who led the research team at PathoGenesis. ``This suggests that PA-824 kills by a mechanism of action that is different from those of current standard therapies. This is exciting news, given the worldwide resurgence of this disease and of drug-resistant strains.''
PA-824 appears to work by interfering with both protein and cell wall biosynthesis -- in part, by preventing multi-drug resistant TB from forming an important fatty acid component of its cell walls. PA-824 even had activity against multi-drug resistant TB that is ``static'' (not replicating). The activity against static TB could prove to be important because an estimated one-third of the world's population is infected with latent (inactive) tuberculosis. The most widely used front-line TB drug, isoniazid, was much less active against static TB.
``With this compound, PathoGenesis has proven that we can discover new classes of antibiotics for difficult-to-treat infections,'' said William R. Baker, Ph.D., senior vice president of research and preclinical development for PathoGenesis. ``It's clear we need new antibiotics to treat tuberculosis. However, TB drug development is long, difficult and costly -- and lack of funding has been a significant challenge. Developing these drugs requires funding support from government and private foundations.''
Studies on PA-824 were performed in collaboration with the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Texas A&M University and Public Health Research Institute of New York.
Worldwide, more than a billion people are infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes TB. The vast majority of these infections are latent (inactive) cases, which may exist for decades before lung disease manifests itself. An estimated eight million active tuberculosis cases and more than two million deaths occur annually. Tuberculosis today is treated with a regimen of at least three different drugs taken daily for a minimum of six months. Untreated patients typically develop progressive tuberculosis pneumonia, causing loss of lung function, severe weight loss and eventual death. People in close contact with these patients risk becoming infected by exposure to airborne droplets produced from coughing. The most effective way to control the spread of TB is through early identification and thorough treatment of these highly contagious active cases.
Studies have shown that current therapies are effective if patients take all their doses and complete the treatment course, but up to 30 percent of patients relapse due to non-compliance. Partial or incomplete treatment is the primary cause of drug-resistant tuberculosis. A number of cities have instituted costly ``directly observed therapy programs,'' in which healthcare workers observe administration of every oral dose in an effort to improve compliance.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). NIAID conducts and supports research to prevent, diagnose and treat illnesses such as HIV disease, sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis, malaria, asthma and allergies. NIH is an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Seattle-based PathoGenesis Corp. develops and commercializes drugs to treat chronic infectious diseases -- particularly serious lung infections, including those common in cystic fibrosis, bronchiectasis and ventilator patients. PathoGenesis' stock is traded on the Nasdaq National Market System under the symbol PGNS. The company's Web site is located at www.pathogenesis.com .
Note: This news release contains forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Because those statements are based on factors that involve risks and uncertainties, the company's actual future results may differ materially from the results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such a difference include, but are not limited to, uncertainties related to the fact that PathoGenesis only began commercial operations in 1998, its dependence on TOBI, the degree of penetration of its markets and frequency of TOBI's use by patients, risks associated with marketing TOBI in international markets, third party reimbursement and product pricing, seasonal impacts on hospitalizations or exacerbations experienced by patients, variability in wholesaler ordering patterns, uncertain outcome of drug development and clinical trials, uncertain outcome of the U.S. and international drug approval process, competition and alternative therapies, and other factors described in PathoGenesis' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the company's 1999 annual report on Form 10-K and Exhibit 99.1 to the Form 10-K.
SOURCE: PathoGenesis Corp. |
