How Viotika’s VIO drugs work:

VIO drugs are defined by four key characteristics:

(1) VIO drugs inhibit a novel target, NQR (Na + -translocating NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase). This is one of major energy-producing enzymes in Gram-negative pathogenic bacteria. This is in contrast to conventional antibiotics, which target either the synthesis of protein, or DNA replication, or cell wall development.

(2) VIO drugs are “precision antibiotics”. Metagenomic analyses have shown that NQR is often found in pathogenic bacteria while it is rare in non-pathogenic bacterial species. VIO drugs are therefore able to eliminate infection without affecting benign human microbiota.

(3) VIO drugs are more than antibiotics and offer a cumulative mode of action. They inhibit transfer of electrons from NADH to the natural NQR substrate (quinone), consequently forcing the electrons to leak instead to nearby oxygen molecules, producing chemically aggressive reactive oxygen species (ROSs). Generated ROSs damage the surrounding bacterial structures thereby enhancing the effect of inhibiting NQR.

(4) Preliminary data suggest that VIO drugs inhibit biofilm formation, a key process in the development of many bacterial infections. This is apparently due to the particular targeting of VIO drugs on arresting energy production that disrupts a variety of physiological functions in bacteria. Energy deprivation caused by VIO drugs should also prevent the survival of “persisters”, i.e., pathogenic bacteria that outlive the presence of conventional antibiotics. Persisters are responsible for resuming the infection process after the removal of the administration of antibiotics.

Pathogenic bacteria affected by VIO drugs:

Viotika has generated data in cell culture to demonstrate that VIO drugs can inhibit the viability and proliferation of:

• Vibrio cholerae;
• Legionella pneumophila;
• Porphyromonas gingivalis;
• Fusobacterium nucleatum;
• Neisseria gonorrhoeae;
• Neisseria meningitidis;
• Chlamydophila pneumoniae; and
• Chlamydia trachomatis.

NQR is present in over 100 different pathogenic bacterial species found in humans, agricultural mammals, and fish. VIO drugs could address a wide variety of diseases.

Related Publications

The following papers shine a light on the foundations of Viotika’s science and its novel platform for addressing the global challenge of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).