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[sawbones1] 10/12/2007 11:47

number 1!!!

[kegs-on-legs] 10/12/2007 11:31

For Immediate Release 10 December 2007



e-Therapeutics plc

("e-Therapeutics" or "the Company")

Successful completion of preclinical efficacy and resistance studies of
candidate antibiotic ETX1153 against MRSA



e-Therapeutics plc (AIM: ETX), the systems biology drug discovery company, is
pleased to announce the successful completion of preclinical studies of efficacy
and rates of resistance of its candidate antibacterial drug compound ETX1153
against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), commonly referred to
in lay terms as one of the hospital "superbugs".



High potency

ETX1153 has been tested in vitro against numerous strains of MRSA, including the
vancomycin intermediately sensitive (VISA) and vancomycin resistant strains
(VRSA). ETX1153 was found to be highly potent, with a Minimum Inhibitory
Concentration (MIC) below 0.25 microgram/ml for all but three strains tested,
for which the median MIC was 0.5 microgram/ml. The most common epidemic strain
of MRSA in the UK is EMRSA-16, and this was among the strains killed most
effectively at the lowest concentration. Furthermore the potency of ETX1153 was
compared with that of other antibiotics commonly used against MRSA, such as
moxifloxacin, trovafloxacin, ciprofloxacin, quinupristin/dalfopristin,
linezolid, teichoplanin and vancomycin, and determined to be significantly
greater, showing the lowest MICs among these drugs.



Low rate of resistance emergence

Initial laboratory studies conducted by e-Therapeutics in 2006 suggested that
the rate of resistance development of bacteria to ETX1153 was very much lower
than that to vancomycin. Quantitative comparative studies of the rate of
resistance development, comparing ETX1153 with two antibiotics frequently
prescribed for MRSA, mupirocin and ciprofloxacin, have confirmed this low rate
of resistance. In a study involving 10 common strains of MRSA and a
widely-accepted industry model for inducing bacterial resistance, resistant
mutants emerged in all the samples for mupirocin and ciprofloxacin, but for 4
out of 10 samples for ETX1153 no resistant mutants were observed whatsoever.
Across the other samples, the rate of development of resistance to ETX1153 was
orders of magnitude slower than for these frequently prescribed antibiotics.



Professor Malcolm Young, Chief Executive of e-Therapeutics commented:

"We are delighted that these rigorous studies have confirmed our initial belief
that ETX1153 could become an important weapon in the battle against this
devastating bacterial infection. We will aim to progress to clinical studies
with ETX1153 as quickly as possible."