Affinium Pharmaceuticals reports first large scale analysis of bacterial protein complexes
Essential protein interactions will provide insights into bacterial antibiotic resistance and facilitate development of new antibiotics
Toronto, Ontario, February 2, 2005 — Affinium Pharmaceuticals, a structure guided drug discovery company focused on the development and commercialization of anti-infective medicines, announced today that a team of scientists, led by Affinium cofounder Dr. Jack Greenblatt, have successfully tagged a total of 847 proteins, including 198 of the most highly conserved, soluble non-ribosomal proteins essential for life in at least one bacterial species. Importantly, the interaction network containing conserved and essential protein complexes in Escherichia coli was uncovered and validated by sequential rounds of tagging and purification. The protein network includes many new and insightful interactions in pathways attacked by current antibiotics.
The project, supported by funds from the Ontario Research and Development Challenge Fund, and undertaken jointly by Affinium, the University of Toronto and the Hospital for Sick Children is reported in the February 3, 2005 edition of the scientific journal Nature. Eighty-five per cent of the validated interactions are significant, novel interactions, and many other informative complexes were detected. These data will be used to facilitate the design of antibiotics for the treatment of serious infectious diseases.
Dr. Jack Greenblatt said, “This study yields invaluable insight into the function of uncharacterized bacterial proteins, and creates a novel foundation for the design of antimicrobials. As well, the collaborative work of Affinium scientists and scientists from the University of Toronto and the Hospital for Sick Children provides a model of teamwork across academic institutions and private industry to achieve accelerated breakthroughs in science and medicine.”
About Affinium Pharmaceuticals
Affinium Pharmaceuticals is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel anti-infective medicines. AFN-1252 utilizes a unique mechanism of action by directly inhibiting the function of the bacterial fatty acid synthesis (FAS) II pathway. Affinium's FASII antibacterial programs constitute a new antibiotic franchise with the potential for multiple products targeting the FASII pathway. These programs include a broad base of long-term intellectual property: issued and pending composition of matter patents on potent orally available small molecule inhibitors of a new class of antibiotics with a unique mechanism of action, targeting an underexploited pathway.
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