Biomimetic Polymers for an Antiseptic Handwash

描述（由申请人提供）：医院获得性感染已经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，这类感染每年造成或促成约88 000人死亡，长期护理造成的直接医疗费用超过45亿美元。美国疾病控制与预防中心表示，通过更好的感染控制措施可以预防三分之一的医疗保健相关感染，而手部卫生是减少医院和其他医疗保健设施中微生物传播的最重要手段。几项研究表明，改善手部卫生依从性可显著减少医院获得性病原体的传播并降低感染率。有必要开发有效的手部消毒消毒剂配方，迅速杀死广谱微生物病原体，并充分解决与其使用相关的合规问题。重要的是，在这些配方中使用的抗菌剂应该对耐药细菌有活性，不应该有助于细菌耐药性的进一步发展。PolyMedix目前正在开发一系列非肽类化合物，这些化合物非常适合防腐应用。这些仿生聚合物1)模拟蛋白质的关键生物学特性，2)比天然蛋白质更稳定，生产成本更低。该技术的第一个应用是设计和合成宿主防御肽的非肽模拟物，宿主防御肽在健康中起着至关重要的作用，作为对抗多种微生物的第一道防线。相对于它们自然产生的对应物，模拟物明显更小，更容易制备，具有同等效力和广泛活性。然而，非肽类模拟物对人红细胞的毒性明显更小，制备成本更低，我们预计它们也将更加稳定。重要的是，由于这些化合物模拟宿主防御肽的结构和生物活性，细菌耐药菌株的出现是不太可能发生的。目前，根据分子骨架的化学组成，已经合成了8类拟物，并对其抗菌活性进行了测试。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的传染性手部病原体，并且不易通过皮肤吸收。

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.