Levofloxacin, sold under the brand name Levaquin among others, is an antibiotic medication. It is used to treat a number of bacterial infections including acute bacterial sinusitis, pneumonia, H. pylori, urinary tract infections, chronic prostatitis, and some types of gastroenteritis. Along with other antibiotics it may be used to treat tuberculosis, meningitis, or pelvic inflammatory disease. Use is generally recommended only when other options are not available. It is available by mouth, intravenously, and in eye drop form.
Carbapenems are a class of very effective antibiotic agents most commonly used for treatment of severe bacterial infections. This class of antibiotics is usually reserved for known or suspected multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial infections. Similar to penicillins and cephalosporins, carbapenems are members of the beta-lactam antibiotics drug class, which kill bacteria by binding to penicillin-binding proteins, thus inhibiting bacterial cell wall synthesis. However, these agents individually exhibit a broader spectrum of activity compared to most cephalosporins and penicillins. Furthermore, carbapenems are typically unaffected by emerging antibiotic resistance, even to other beta-lactams.
Faropenem is an orally active beta-lactam antibiotic belonging to the penem group. It is resistant to some forms of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase. It is available for oral use.
Oritavancin, sold under the brand name Orbactiv among others, is a semisynthetic glycopeptide antibiotic medication for the treatment of serious Gram-positive bacterial infections. Its chemical structure as a lipoglycopeptide is similar to vancomycin.
Lysostaphin is a Staphylococcus simulans metalloendopeptidase. It can function as a bacteriocin (antimicrobial) against Staphylococcus aureus.
Antimicrobial pharmacodynamics is the relationship between the concentration of an antibiotic and its ability to inhibit vital processes of endo- or ectoparasites and microbial organisms. This branch of pharmacodynamics relates the concentration of an anti-infective agent to its effect, specifically to its antimicrobial effect.
Fleroxacin is a quinolone antibiotic. It is sold under the brand names Quinodis and Megalocin.
Ceftaroline fosamil (INN), brand name Teflaro in the US and Zinforo in Europe, is a cephalosporin antibiotic with anti-MRSA activity. Ceftaroline fosamil is a prodrug of ceftaroline. It is active against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and other Gram-positive bacteria. It retains some activity of later-generation cephalosporins having broad-spectrum activity against Gram-negative bacteria, but its effectiveness is relatively much weaker. It is currently being investigated for community-acquired pneumonia and complicated skin and skin structure infection.
Linopristin/flopristin is an experimental drug candidate under development by Novexel. It is an oral streptogramin antibiotic that has potent in vitro activity against certain Gram-positive bacteria including methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), as well as the important respiratory pathogens including penicillin-, macrolide- and quinolone-resistant strains. It is a combination of linopristin and flopristin.
Lipoglycopeptides are a class of antibiotic that have lipophilic side-chains linked to glycopeptides. The class includes oritavancin, telavancin and dalbavancin.
Solithromycin is a ketolide antibiotic undergoing clinical development for the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia and other infections.
Infections caused by exposure to ionizing radiation can be extremely dangerous, and are of public and government concern. Numerous studies have demonstrated that the susceptibility of organisms to systemic infection increased following exposure to ionizing radiation. The risk of systemic infection is higher when the organism has a combined injury, such as a conventional blast, thermal burn, or radiation burn. There is a direct quantitative relationship between the magnitude of the neutropenia that develops after exposure to radiation and the increased risk of developing infection. Because no controlled studies of therapeutic intervention in humans are available, almost all of the current information is based on animal research.
Quinolone antibiotics constitute a large group of broad-spectrum bacteriocidals that share a bicyclic core structure related to the substance 4-quinolone. They are used in human and veterinary medicine to treat bacterial infections, as well as in animal husbandry, specifically poultry production.
Omadacycline, sold under the brand name Nuzyra, is a broad spectrum antibiotic medication belonging to the aminomethylcycline subclass of tetracycline antibiotics. In the United States, it was approved in October 2018, for the treatment of community-acquired bacterial pneumonia and acute skin and skin structure infections.
Eravacycline is a synthetic halogenated tetracycline class antibiotic by Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals. It is closely related to tigecycline. It has a broad spectrum of activity including many multi-drug resistant strains of bacteria. Phase III studies in complicated intra-abdominal infections (cIAI) and complicated urinary tract infections (cUTI) were recently completed with mixed results. Eravacycline was granted fast track designation by the FDA and is currently available in USA.
OSU-03012 (AR-12) is a celecoxib derivative with anticancer and anti-microbial activity. Unlike celecoxib, OSU-03012 does not inhibit COX, but inhibits several other important enzymes instead which may be useful in the treatment of some forms of cancer, When combined with PDE5 inhibitors such as sildenafil or tadalafil, OSU-03012 was found to show enhanced anti-tumour effects in cell culture.
Ceftazidime/avibactam, sold under the brand name Avycaz among others, is a fixed-dose combination medication composed of ceftazidime, a cephalosporin antibiotic, and avibactam, a β-lactamase inhibitor. It is used to treat complicated intra-abdominal infections, urinary tract infections, and pneumonia. It is only recommended when other options are not appropriate. It is given by infusion into a vein.
Karen Bush is an American biochemist. She is a professor of Practice in Biology Emerita at Indiana University and served as the interim director of the Biotechnology program from 2019-2022. Bush conducts research focusing on the activity of novel antimicrobial agents against Gram-negative bacteria and bacterial resistance mechanisms to beta-lactam antibiotics.
Karen Joy Shaw is an American microbiologist and discoverer of novel antifungal and antibacterial compounds. She is best known for her work on aminoglycoside resistance in bacteria as well as leading drug discovery research teams. As Senior Vice President of Biology at Trius Therapeutics, Inc. her work was critical to the development of the oxazolidinone antibiotic tedizolid phosphate (Sivextro) as well as the discovery of the TriBE inhibitors, a novel class of DNA gyrase/Topoisomerase IV antibacterial agents that target both Gram-positive and Gram-negative organisms.[2] As Chief Scientific Officer at Amplyx Pharmaceuticals, Shaw was responsible for the preclinical development of the novel antifungal fosmanogepix, a first-in-class broad-spectrum antifungal prodrug that is currently in Phase 2 clinical development for the treatment of invasive fungal infections. She also discovered APX2039, a unique Gwt1 inhibitor that is in preclinical development for the treatment of cryptococcal meningitis.
Lascufloxacin is an fluoroquinolone antibiotic drug for the treatment of bacterial infections. It has been approved since 2019 in Japan to treat community-acquired pneumonia, otorhinolaryngological infections, and respiratory tract infections.
