Groounded on the patented work of SMU chemistry professor John Buynak, Research Corporation Technologies and Southern Methodist University in Dallas formed a company to further develop new agents that overcome antibiotic-resistant bacteriawho has created a variety of compounds to help fight beta-lactam-resistant bacteria. Buynak also devised new methods for commercial-scale production of these compounds. This patent protects his novel penicillin derivatives that are potent inhibitors of beta-lactamase enzymes. Beta-lactams, which include penicillins and cephalosporins, have been among the most useful of all antibiotics, but overuse and misuse have endangered their effectiveness. Some bacteria strains can now inactivate whole groups of beta-lactams with the enzyme beta-lactamase, allowing bacterial infection to grow unchecked. To overcome bacterial resistance to beta-lactams, current drugs combine a beta-lactam antibiotic and a beta-lactamase inhibitor. Most of today's products target mainly one enzyme class. The AlamX compounds inhibit different, and in some cases multiple, classes of beta-lactamases. A two-component drug containing an AlamX inhibitor and a beta-lactam antibiotic has the potential to treat a broad spectrum of microorganisms for which no effective therapies exist. AlamX attempted to match several of the most promising compounds with existing antibiotics and screening these combinations against a panel of resistant microorganisms.
