Rib-X Pharmaceuticals co-founder discovers new ribosomal structures of antibiotics

Feb 19 2010

Rib-X Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a development-stage antibiotics company with a broad product pipeline based on its innovative discovery platform, and Yale University today announced the discovery by Thomas Steitz, Ph.D., co-founder of Rib-X and Yale University professor, of important new ribosomal structures of antibiotics, enabling the potential creation of novel treatments for drug resistant infections, including resistant tuberculosis (TB).

“The Structures of the Anti-Tuberculosis Antibiotics Viomycin and Capreomycin Bound to the 70S Ribosome”

In the paper, “The Structures of the Anti-Tuberculosis Antibiotics Viomycin and Capreomycin Bound to the 70S Ribosome,” published in the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology (advance online publication, 14 February 2010), Dr. Steitz and his colleagues at Yale’s Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, describe how they have identified two structures of tuberactinomycins (antibiotics used to treat TB) bound to the ribosome. The identification of these structures provides insight for the design of novel antibiotic derivatives that could be effective against a variety of drug resistant microorganisms.

"It is gratifying that Dr. Steitz and his colleagues have determined the structure of a drug used to treat TB bound to the ribosome, which is its target. The information they have obtained may make it possible to develop new drugs for treating this serious disease," commented Peter Moore, Ph.D., Sterling Professor of Chemistry, and Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University and a Rib-X co-Founder.

"The Rib-X drug discovery initiative will greatly benefit by access to this new, high quality structural information," said Susan Froshauer, Ph.D., Founder and the President and Chief Executive Officer of Rib-X Pharmaceuticals. “This work provides the basis for Rib-X to create completely novel and more effective antibiotics for treating a variety of drug-resistant infections.”

In December 2009, Rib-X expanded its license agreement with Yale University in the area of ribosomal antibiotic structure and function. Under the agreement, Rib-X will further explore the high-resolution crystal structure of new ribosome technology elucidated by Dr. Thomas Steitz and colleagues at Yale. Dr. Steitz was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his groundbreaking work determining a high resolution crystal structure of the 50S subunit of the ribosome which has proved to be a major target for antibiotic development.

“It’s very exciting to continually add to our knowledge of the ribosome. These structures of viomycin and capreomycin bound to the ribosome allowed us to identify an important new ribosome binding site and to better understand how these antibiotics inhibit ribosome function,” said Thomas Steitz, Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and Rib-X co-Founder.