The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) awarded Venatorx Pharmaceuticals Inc. a 3-year, $1M Project Grant under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) to develop a novel class of antibiotic compounds targeting carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) infections. The project aims to optimize a lead series of cyclic boronate penicillin-binding protein inhibitors (boro-PBPIs) to achieve a 4-fold improvement in antibacterial potency, with a target minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC90) of ≤4 μg/mL against CRAB clinical isolates. As a contingency, the project will also explore dual boro-PBPI inhibitors targeting both PBP2 and PBP3 to enhance in vivo efficacy. The optimized boro-PBPI compound would represent a new antibiotic class to address resistance to beta-lactams for treating CRAB infections, providing a long-term therapeutic solution to this urgent public health threat.
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