Biomimetic Polymers for an Antiseptic Handwash

描述(由申请人提供)：医院内(医院获得性)感染已成为一个主要的医疗保健问题，在美国每年至少影响200万患者。据估计，这种感染每年导致或促成约88,000人死亡，以及延长护理期限的直接医疗费用超过45亿美元。疾控中心表示，三分之一的医疗相关感染可以通过更好的感染控制措施来预防，而手卫生是减少微生物在医院和其他医疗机构传播的最重要手段。一些研究表明，改善手部卫生依从性显著减少了医院获得性病原体的传播，并降低了感染率。有必要开发用于手消毒的有效防腐配方，以迅速杀灭广泛的微生物病原体，并充分解决与使用它们相关的遵从性问题。重要的是，这些制剂中使用的抗菌剂应该对耐药细菌起作用，而不应有助于细菌耐药性的进一步发展。Polymedix目前正在开发一系列特别适合防腐应用的非肽化合物。这些仿生聚合物1)模拟蛋白质的关键生物特性，2)比天然蛋白质更稳定，生产成本更低。这项技术的第一个应用是设计和合成对健康起关键作用的宿主防御肽的非肽模拟物，作为攻击广泛微生物的第一道防线。与自然产生的对应物相比，模拟物明显更小，更容易制备，等价性和广泛的活性。然而，非肽类化合物对人类红细胞的毒性要小得多，制备成本也低得多，我们预计它们也会更稳定。重要的是，由于这些化合物模仿宿主防御肽的结构和生物活性，因此不太可能出现细菌耐药菌株。目前，根据分子骨架的化学组成，已经合成了八类模拟物，并对其进行了抗菌活性测试。第一阶段研究的目标是确定一组化合物(发现线索)，这些化合物可以迅速杀死广泛传播的手部病原体，并且不容易通过皮肤吸收。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Nosocomial (hospital-acquired) infections have become a major healthcare issue, affecting at least two million patients annually in the US. Is estimated that such infections cause or contribute to approximately 88,000 deaths per year and over 4.5 billion dollars in direct medical costs for extended durations of care. The CDC has stated hat one-third of healthcare-associated infections can be prevented by better infection-control measures and hand hygiene is the most important means for reducing the transmission of microorganisms in hospitals and other healthcare facilities. Several studies have demonstrated that improving hand hygiene compliance significantly reduces the transmission of hospital-acquired pathogens and decreases infection rates. There is a need for the development of effective antiseptic formulations for hand sterilization that rapidly kill of broad spectrum of microbial pathogens and fully address compliance issues associated with their use. Importantly, the antimicrobial agents utilized in these formulations should be active against drug-resistant bacteria and should not contribute to the filrther development of bacterial resistance. PolyMedix is presently developing a series of nonpeptidic compounds that are uniquely suited for antiseptic applications. These biomimetic polymers 1) mimic key biological properties of proteins and 2) are more stable and inexpensive to produce than natural proteins. The first application of this technology has been the design and synthesis of non-peptidic mimetics of host defense peptides that play a critical role in health, serving as a first line of attack against a wide range of microbes. In relation to their naturally occurring counterparts, the mimetics are significantly smaller and easier to prepare, as equipotent and as broadly active. However, the non-peptidic mimetics are significantly less toxic towards human erythrocytes, much less expensive to prepare, and we expect that they will also be much more stable. Importantly, because these compounds mimic the structure and biological activity of host defense peptides, the appearance of bacterial resistant strains is very unlikely to occur. Presently, eight classes of mimetics, distinguished by the chemical composition of their molecular backbone, have been synthesized and tested for antimicrobial activity. The goal of the Phase I studies is to identify a set of compounds (discovery leads) that rapidly kill a broad spectrum of transmissible hand pathogens and are not readily absorbed through the skin.