Selcia Scientists Elucidate Stereochemistry of Novel Antibacterial Macrocycle Teixobactin, Published in Nature

Ongar, UK, 8th January 2015 / Sciad Newswire / Selcia scientists have determined the absolute stereochemistry of the structure of teixobactin, a novel antibacterial macrocyclic peptide whose discovery is described in a recent article published in the journal Nature by NovoBiotic Pharmaceuticals. Teixobactin is a member of a new class of antibiotics, which shows potent killing against a broad panel of bacterial pathogens including MRSA and VRE. Selcia engaged its extensive experience in the synthesis and analysis of natural products including macrocycles to assign the absolute stereochemistry of teixobactin, employing techniques which included chemical degradation with advanced Marfey’s analysis as well as partial degradation, synthesis of fragments obtained by degradation and the synthesis of all four diastereomers of an unusual amino acid not occurring in proteins.

Dr. Hans Fliri, CEO of Selcia commented “Anti-microbial resistance (AMR) is the subject of increasing widespread international concern and we are delighted that with this publication we can highlight how Selcia’s expertise assisted NovoBiotic in their identification of the structure of this highly promising novel antibiotic”.

Dr. Dallas Hughes, President of NovoBiotic said “We identified Selcia as our partner of choice for the structural elucidation due to their track record of success in the chemistry and analysis of macrocycles. We are delighted with Selcia’s involvement with this promising therapeutic candidate,  teixobactin, which is the first member of a new class of antibiotics”.

About Selcia

Selcia is a privately held contract research organisation providing integrated small molecule drug discovery with specialist expertise in the medicinal chemistry of macrocycles, including cyclic peptides, their simplification and optimisation for drug use together with a unique peptidyl prolyl isomerase (PPIase) inhibitor screening platform. Selcia is also a global leader in radiochemistry providing 14C GMP radiolabelled API for clinical trials and 14C custom radiolabelling for drug metabolism, dermal penetration and environmental fate studies.

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