Development of a Novel Wall Teichoic Acid Inhibitor as an Oral Combination Therapy for MRSA

The emergence of multi-drug resistant bacteria is now a major public health concern. Reports from the Wellcome Trust, World Health Organization and the Chief Medical Officer of the United Kingdom have highlighted the urgent need for the identification and development of new antibiotics, especially those with novel modes of action. Antibiotic resistance will threaten routine surgery as infections become untreatable and some types of treatments such as cancer chemotherapy and organ transplantation, which suppresses the patient’s immune system, will no longer be viable. Oppilotech Ltd was founded to develop novel antibacterial compounds to address the dearth of new classes of antibiotics. The company’s lead drug development programs are based on the exciting finding that an approved orally bioavailable drug used for the treatment of a chronic inflammatory disease also has potent antibacterial properties (including MRSA) and represents a new class of antibiotics. The project will exploit this exciting discovery by funding key experiments to pave the way towards a viable development route to the clinic.