Researchers at the University of Akron (UA) and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed an antibiotic treatment for pulmonary infections, including pneumonia and cystic fibrosis, with the potential to significantly increase survival among patients with lung infections. The nanoparticle antibiotic treatment is composed of encapsulated silver carbene complexes (SCC), developed by Wiley Youngs, PhD, UA distinguished professor of chemistry, and colleagues. The nebulized antimicrobials, administered once daily, offer effective and convenient drug delivery, encouraging patient compliance, reducing illness severity, limiting development of resistance to antibiotics, and potentially decreasing the spread of epidemics, according to the researchers.
During mouse studies, all untreated animals died while all of those treated with the aerosolized, nano-sized, silver-based antibiotics survived an infection of Pseudomona aeroginosa — a common bacteria that infects the respiratory tract in humans, especially those who are immunocompromised, on mechanical ventilator support, or afflicted with cystic fibrosis. Treatment with the SCC-loaded nanoparticles also minimized weight loss and the bacteria burden in the lung, while also reducing the spread of bacteria from the lung through the blood stream to the spleen. The researchers are commercializing the technology through the UA Research Foundation start-up Akron Research Commercialization Corp. They plan to file a U.S. Food and Drug Administration application for Investigational New Drug status for their first product offering, called Silvamist.
Source: The Universtiy of Akron News