Considerations and caveats in anti-virulence drug development.

Considerations and caveats in anti-virulence drug development. Curr Opin Microbiol. 2016 Jun 16;33:41-46 Authors: Maura D, Ballok AE, Rahme LG 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. PMID: 27318551 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Current Opinion in Microbiology - Category: Microbiology Authors: Tags: Curr Opin Microbiol Source Type: research