A Novel Antibiotic Class to Treat Diabetic Ulcer Infections

New classes of antibiotics are a disturbingly unmet need. In 2013, antibiotic resistant bacteria were called a "catastrophic threat to the human population" and "nightmare bacteria" by Dame Sally Davies, England's Chief Medical Officer, and Thomas Frieden, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the USA, respectively. The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified antibiotic resistance as one of the three greatest threats to human health. This situation has been driven by a marked decline in the discovery of novel antibiotics, the misuse of current antibiotics, and the significant emergence of multidrug resistant bacteria, the so-called 'superbugs'. We have designed and synthesized a truly new class of antibiotics that can target and kill superbugs. We tested our antibiotics in the gold standard animal model of infection that mimics superbug infection of a diabetic wound. Diabetic infections are a particularly difficult to treat class of infection. Each year, 63,000 Canadian diabetics present with an infected wound, and our inability to treat these infections makes them the number one cause of amputations in Canada. In some cases, these infections can become systemic and lead to death. Our antibiotics were able to cure diabetic wounds of infection and significantly increased wound healing. The goal of this research proposal is to characterize our new antibiotic class to determine their potential to transition toward a Phase 1 (first in human) clinical trial for the treatment of diabetic infections.