RADNOR, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- PolyMedix, Inc. (OTC BB: PYMX), a biotechnology company focused on developing new therapeutic drugs to treat patients with acute infectious diseases and cardiovascular disorders, announced today 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 Centers 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 analog of PMX-30063, our lead antibiotic product candidate currently being evaluated in a Phase 2 clinical trial,” commented Richard Scott, Ph.D., 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).
About PolyMedix, Inc.
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. PolyMedix uses a rational drug design approach to create non-peptide, small-molecule drug candidates. PolyMedix’s lead antibiotic compound, PMX-30063, is currently in a Phase 2 clinical trial for treatment of Acute Bacterial Skin and Skin Structure Infections (ABSSSI) caused by Staph, including MRSA. PMX-30063 is a small-molecule that mimics the mechanism of action of human host defense proteins, a mechanism that is distinct from currently approved antibiotic drugs and is intended to make bacterial resistance unlikely to develop. PolyMedix’s lead heptagonist compound, PMX-60056, is in a Phase 2 clinical trial in patients undergoing PCI procedures. PMX-60056 is designed to reverse the anticoagulant activity of both heparin and low molecular weight heparins (LMWH). PolyMedix believes that PMX-60056 could potentially be a safer and easier to use anticoagulant reversing agent, with broader activity, than the currently approved therapy for reversing heparin and LMWH. In addition to its small molecule therapeutics, PolyMedix has polymeric formulations with the same mechanism of action as PMX-30063, PolyCides®. PolyCides are intended for use in antimicrobial biomaterials applications as additives to paints, plastics, and textiles to create self-sterilizing products and surfaces. For more information, please visit our website at www.polymedix.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause PolyMedix’s actual results and experience to differ materially from anticipated results and expectations expressed in these forward looking statements. PolyMedix has in some cases identified forward-looking statements by using words such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “hopes,” “estimates,” “looks,” “expects,” “plans,” “intends,” “goal,” “potential,” “may,” “suggest,” and similar expressions. Among other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements are PolyMedix’s need for, and the availability of, substantial capital in the future to fund its operations and research and development, and the fact that PolyMedix’s compounds may not successfully complete pre-clinical or clinical testing, or be granted regulatory approval to be sold and marketed in the United States or elsewhere. A more complete description of these risk factors is included in PolyMedix’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. PolyMedix undertakes no obligation to release publicly the results of any revisions to any such forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by applicable law or regulation.
CONTACT:
PolyMedix, Inc.
Lisa Caperelli
Director, Investor Relations & Corporate Communications
484-598-2406
[email protected]
KEYWORDS: United States North America Pennsylvania
INDUSTRY KEYWORDS: Health Biotechnology Cardiology Clinical Trials Infectious Diseases Pharmaceutical
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