Erythromycin

• The ISN World Congress of Nephrology will be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina April 13-16, 2024.
• Presentations will highlight the eGFR results found in patients on Nefecon as well as the data on quality of life during the trial.
• There will also be a presentation on the subanalysis evaluating benefits of Nefecon for patients with lower levels of UPCR.
• The congress will include a symposium, Evolving Landscape of eFGR and Proteinuria Surrogate Markers in IgA Nephropathy, moderated by KOL Richard Lafayette, M.D., F.A.C.P.

• “What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger”, originally coined by Friedrich Nietzsche in 1888, is a perfect description of how bacteria develop antibiotic resistance.
• Contrary to a common belief, antibiotic resistance is not about your body becoming resistant to antibiotics.

How bacteria adapt

• The ability for bacteria to adapt lies in part with their astonishing rate of reproduction.
• While most changes are bad, sometimes they can help the bacteria grow in the presence of an antibiotic.
• This evolution of resistance can be seen by growing bacteria on a large agar plate (a nutrient support that bacteria like to grow on) with zones of increasing antibiotic levels.

They also exchange genetic material

• The other key mechanism enabling bacterial resistance is the exchange of genetic information between bacteria.
• In addition to the main chunk of DNA that encodes the bacterial genome, bacteria can host circular DNA snippets called plasmids.
• Plasmid exchange usually occurs by direct physical contact between bacteria.

4 ways bacteria resist

• Gram-positive bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus have a thick cell wall enclosing a lipid membrane.
• Antibiotics can hijack these entry routes, but bacteria can modify the cell wall, cell membrane and entry proteins to block antibiotic penetration.
• For example, bacteria increase the thickness of the cell wall to resist antibiotics like vancomycin.

• Bacteria have machinery known as efflux pumps, which regurgitate unwanted molecules from within the bacteria.
• Bacteria can alter the pump so it is more effective at removing the antibiotic, or they can simply make more pumps.
• Antibiotics, like most other drugs, generally work by blocking the function of important enzymes within the bacteria.
• If bacteria alter the target shape by changing the DNA/protein sequence, the antibiotic (key) can no longer bind to its target (lock).

Bacteria vs antibiotics

• While bacteria have developed mechanisms to resist antibiotics, these adaptations can come at a “fitness” cost.
• Bacteria may grow more slowly, or can be killed more easily by another antibiotic.
• This has led to the concept of “collateral sensitivity” to prevent or overcome resistance when treating patients, by using pairs of antibiotics.

Mark Blaskovich receives funding from a range of government, not-for-profit and commercial organisations for research into antibiotic discovery and development. He is affiliated with AAMRNet (Australian Antimicrobial Resistance Network), an organisation promoting improved care and development of antibiotics and antibiotic alternatives.

• STOCKHOLM, Oct. 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Calliditas Therapeutics AB (NASDAQ: CALT) (NASDAQ Stockholm: CALTX) ("Calliditas"), today announced seven abstract presentations, including a late-breaking poster presentation, highlighting additional analyses of the Phase 3 NefIgArd study at the upcoming American Society of Nephrology (ASN) Kidney Week 2023 in Philadelphia, PA, November 1-5, 2023.
• Poster presentation details are below and will be available on the Presentation and Publication page on the Calliditas' corporate website following the meeting.
• It has not been established whether TARPEYO slows kidney function decline in patients with IgAN.
• Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefits in a confirmatory clinical trial.

• Health Canada is warning consumers about unauthorized health products it seized from Yang Sheng Health Food Ltd. and two G&R Ginseng Trading Ltd. locations in Richmond, B.C.
• These products are labelled to contain prescription drugs and may pose serious health risks.
• Unauthorized health products have not been approved by Health Canada, which means that they have not been assessed for safety, efficacy and quality and may pose a range of serious health risks.
• Consult a health care professional if you have used any of these products and have health concerns.