Rib-X Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Receives U.S. Patent for Technology Enabling Antibiotic Structure Based Drug Design
New Haven, Connecticut. Oct 30, 2003 — Rib-X Pharmaceuticals, Inc.,
a privately held biotechnology company focused on the design and
development of the next generation of antibiotics to fight
multi-drug resistant bacteria, announced today the issuance of a U.S.
Patent describing the Company's proprietary technology on the
high-resolution crystal structure of the 50S subunit of the ribosome.
The 50S is the target for many clinically important classes of
antibiotics, including those used to treat both community acquired
and hospital pathogens.
"The antibiotic market, at some $25 billion worldwide, is huge," said Dr. Susan Froshauer, President and Chief Executive Officer of Rib-X. "The patent protects a core component of the Company's structure based drug discovery approach and helps to ensure the Rib-X advantage in the global hunt for more effective antibiotics."
The 50S subunit is a large drug target, which performs an essential role in the fundamental process of protein synthesis. Having what amounts to a map of the 50S provides the Company an advantage in the design of new classes of antibiotics.
"With the problem of antibiotic resistance on the rise in both hospital and community settings, securing our hold on this proprietary technology will enable us to build faster, efficient and more informed routes to the design of better anti-infective agents," continued Froshauer. "Our goal is a strong and growing pipeline comprising multiple new classes of antibiotic agents, and we are committed to building a substantial patent portfolio to support these efforts."
U.S. Patent number 6,638,908, which relates to the 50S high-resolution crystal structure subunit from Haloarcula marismortui and for which Rib-X holds the exclusive, worldwide license, derives from the research of two of the founders of Rib-X, Thomas Steitz, Ph.D. and Peter Moore, Ph.D., both of Yale University.
About Rib-X Pharmaceuticals
Rib-X Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a product-driven small-molecule drug discovery and development company focused on developing and commercializing antibiotics to treat highly-resistant bacterial infections. Based in New Haven, Connecticut, the Company has raised over $170 million and has two programs, delafloxacin and radezolid, in advanced clinical trials. In addition, a preclinical program featuring an entirely new class of broad-spectrum antibiotics with the potential to treat even highly- resistant Gram-negative infections is scheduled to begin clinical trials in 2011.
Rib-X designs and develops novel small-molecule antibiotics by leveraging the Company's Nobel Prize- winning discovery platform to perform structure-based design and optimization. While many commercially valuable classes of antibiotics bind to the bacterial ribosome, including oxazolidinones, tetracyclines and macrolides, traditional antibiotic discovery relies heavily on serendipity. Rib-X's key competitive advantage is its proprietary understanding of ribosome structure, which enables it to generate antibiotics that overcome known resistance mechanisms and have broad-spectrum activity.
Rib-X's integrated research strategy combines state-of-the-art, proprietary computational analysis, X-ray crystallography, medicinal chemistry, microbiology and biochemistry, thereby allowing Rib-X to rapidly synthesize new agents designed to avoid typical antibiotic resistance mechanisms. Rib-X's iterative intelligent engine has yielded several distinct new antibiotic classes.
"The antibiotic market, at some $25 billion worldwide, is huge," said Dr. Susan Froshauer, President and Chief Executive Officer of Rib-X. "The patent protects a core component of the Company's structure based drug discovery approach and helps to ensure the Rib-X advantage in the global hunt for more effective antibiotics."
The 50S subunit is a large drug target, which performs an essential role in the fundamental process of protein synthesis. Having what amounts to a map of the 50S provides the Company an advantage in the design of new classes of antibiotics.
"With the problem of antibiotic resistance on the rise in both hospital and community settings, securing our hold on this proprietary technology will enable us to build faster, efficient and more informed routes to the design of better anti-infective agents," continued Froshauer. "Our goal is a strong and growing pipeline comprising multiple new classes of antibiotic agents, and we are committed to building a substantial patent portfolio to support these efforts."
U.S. Patent number 6,638,908, which relates to the 50S high-resolution crystal structure subunit from Haloarcula marismortui and for which Rib-X holds the exclusive, worldwide license, derives from the research of two of the founders of Rib-X, Thomas Steitz, Ph.D. and Peter Moore, Ph.D., both of Yale University.
About Rib-X Pharmaceuticals
Rib-X Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a product-driven small-molecule drug discovery and development company focused on developing and commercializing antibiotics to treat highly-resistant bacterial infections. Based in New Haven, Connecticut, the Company has raised over $170 million and has two programs, delafloxacin and radezolid, in advanced clinical trials. In addition, a preclinical program featuring an entirely new class of broad-spectrum antibiotics with the potential to treat even highly- resistant Gram-negative infections is scheduled to begin clinical trials in 2011.
Rib-X designs and develops novel small-molecule antibiotics by leveraging the Company's Nobel Prize- winning discovery platform to perform structure-based design and optimization. While many commercially valuable classes of antibiotics bind to the bacterial ribosome, including oxazolidinones, tetracyclines and macrolides, traditional antibiotic discovery relies heavily on serendipity. Rib-X's key competitive advantage is its proprietary understanding of ribosome structure, which enables it to generate antibiotics that overcome known resistance mechanisms and have broad-spectrum activity.
Rib-X's integrated research strategy combines state-of-the-art, proprietary computational analysis, X-ray crystallography, medicinal chemistry, microbiology and biochemistry, thereby allowing Rib-X to rapidly synthesize new agents designed to avoid typical antibiotic resistance mechanisms. Rib-X's iterative intelligent engine has yielded several distinct new antibiotic classes.
| Public Relations |
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Kari Watson
MacDougall BioMedical Communications 781-235-3060 kari@macbiocom.com |
| Investor Relations |
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Sarah Cavanaugh
MacDougall BioMedical Communications 781-235-3060 scavanaugh@macbiocom.com |