PolyMedix, Inc. a biotechnology company focused on developing new therapeutic drugs to treat patients with acute infectious diseases and cardiovascular disorders, announced that several of its defensin-mimetic antibiotic compounds have shown antimicrobial efficacy in an animal model against the bacteria that causes anthrax. Anthrax is an acute infectious disease caused by the spore forming bacterium Bacillus anthracis that is categorized by the Centres for Disease Control (CDC) as a Class A bioterrorism agent.

“These data are particularly significant because it shows antimicrobial activity in a rigorous animal respiratory infection model with defensin-mimetic antibiotics, including one that is a close structural analogue of PMX-30063, our lead antibiotic product candidate currently being evaluated in a phase II clinical trial,” commented Richard Scott, PhD, vice president of Research at PolyMedix. “As the World Health Organization’s Director-General recently stated, there is an urgent need for new antibiotic medicines to fight infections. An antibiotic with activity in a respiratory infection model and a unique mechanism of action to which resistance is unlikely to develop, has medical, commercial, and national security value. Demonstration of activity in such models is important and supports continued testing of our defensin-mimetic antibiotics, including PMX-30063, for potential use in treating other respiratory infections such as pneumonia.”

PolyMedix conducted this testing in collaboration with Dr Henry Heine at the Ordway Research Institute, under a grant received in June 2009 from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). PolyMedix plans to conduct additional testing and submit these data for presentation at future scientific meeting(s).

PolyMedix is a publicly traded biotechnology company focused on the development of novel drugs for the treatment of serious infectious diseases and acute cardiovascular disorders. PMX-30063, PolyMedix’s lead antibiotic compound that is currently in phase II clinical trials, is a small molecule that mimics human host-defence proteins and has a mechanism of action distinct from those of current antibiotic drugs, a mechanism which is intended to make bacterial resistance unlikely to develop.