Patents on streptogramin antibiotics

Streptogramin represents a unique class of antibiotics remarkable for their antibacterial activity and their unique mechanism of action. The streptogramin antibiotics are a family of natural products that have been isolated from strains of Streptomyces found in soil organisms. This review summarises patents claiming streptogramin antibiotics published from January 1999 to December 2002. The majority of the patents described here disclose chemistry and biological evaluation of new streptogramin derivatives. In general, streptogramins have demonstrated activity against Gram-positive microorganisms in vitro and in vivo, including those with multi-drug resistance. Moreover, the absence of cross-resistance to macrolides in many of these microorganisms, and the rarity of cross-resistance between the two groups of antibiotics associated with rapid bacterial killing, are the principal features of the streptogramins. This indicates an important possible role in treating the rising number of infections that are caused by multiple-resistant Gram-positive bacteria.