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Published on: October 29, 2015
Considerations and caveats in anti-virulence drug development
Damien Maura1, Alicia E Ballok1, Laurence G Rahme1
1Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA; Department of Microbiology and Immunobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Shriners Hospitals for Children Boston, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
Abstract:
As antibiotic resistance remains a major public health threat, anti-virulence therapy research is gaining interest. Hundreds of potential anti-virulence compounds have been examined, but very few have made it to clinical trials and none have been approved. This review surveys the current anti-virulence research field with a focus on the highly resistant and deadly ESKAPE pathogens, especially Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We discuss timely considerations and caveats in anti-virulence drug development, including target identification, administration, preclinical development, and metrics for success in clinical trials. Development of a defined pipeline for anti-virulence agents, which differs in important ways from conventional antibiotics, is imperative for the future success of these critically needed drugs.
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