ActivBiotics Inc has exclusively licensed a suite of patents (US 5,424,187; US 5,830,874; US 6,043,225) from the University of Washington covering the diagnosis and treatment of arterial chlamydial granuloma. Researchers at the University of Washington were the first to discover Chlamydia pneumoniae the organism linked by researchers from around the globe to atherosclerotic plaques. The organism is theorized by many to cause or exacerbate chronic inflammatory diseases such as atherosclerosis.
Rifalazil, ActivBiotics lead compound, is believed by the company to be the most potent anti-chlamydial compound in clinical testing, and if approved by the FDA, would become the most potent anti-chlamydial compound on the market.
Dr. Cho-chou 'Ted' Kuo, a co-discoverer of Chlamydia pneumoniae and co-inventor on the patents, stated, "We are confident that by partnering our intellectual property with ActivBiotics, whose compounds are among the most potent tested so far in vitro and in vivo, we may have the potential to successfully manage atherosclerotic inflammatory diseases exacerbated by Chlamydia pneumoniae." Kuo is a professor of pathobiology in the University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine.
Dr. Michael Gibson, Associate Chief of Cardiology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Director of the TIMI Data Coordinating Center at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston added, "At least 50% of atherosclerosis cases have no known etiology. Recent research reports on the chronic nature of chlamydial infections and the preliminary positive clinical outcomes when using antibiotics suggest that further clinical trials with the even more potent antibiotics are necessary. These trials may shed new light and hope in treating atherosclerotic diseases. We look forward to conducting clinical trials with rifalazil."