Despite the need for new antibiotics, limited discovery and development efforts are underway within the biopharmaceutical industry. Only seven new antibiotics have won FDA approval since 2000, compared with 30 in the decade ending 1992—even as the emergence of bacterial resistance, and in particular of the aggressive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), has limited the effectiveness of many of the commonly used classes of antibiotics.

This rise in resistance, while alarming, opens opportunities for new approaches to antibiotic development. Tetracyclines are among the most successful classes of antibiotics. However, only one new compound in this class, Tygacil® (tigecycline, Wyeth), has been approved in over 30 years, largely as a result of the constraints on chemical modification inherent in semi-synthetic production methods.

Tetraphase’s synthetic chemistry is a powerful product engine for generating a diverse portfolio of next-generation tetracycline antibiotics. The proprietary approach has enabled Tetraphase to develop a wide range of potent novel antibiotics including both broad-spectrum (Gram-positive and Gram-negative) antibiotics and selective-spectrum antibiotics for specific difficult-to-treat infections.

Tetraphase’s current product pipeline represents novel intravenous and oral antibiotics across a broad range of applications, including those with broad spectrum coverage against multi-drug resistant infections and those with selective spectrum activity against infections like UTI and CABP. Tetraphase’s antibiotic drug candidates are designed to deliver significant improvement for the treatment of both broad and selective infections that are serious and life-threatening and not fully managed with current antibiotics.