CANDIDA

• Effective treatment of drug-resistant Candida infections is an unmet need in U.S. market
  WASHINGTON, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 60 Degrees Pharmaceuticals , Inc. (“60P”) (NASDAQ: SXTP), specialists in developing and marketing medicines for infectious diseases, today announced the journal, New Microbes and New Infections , has published non-clinical study results showing tafenoquine exhibits broad spectrum antifungal activity, including against Candida spp.
• in cell culture, and decreases fungal burden in the lungs in an invasive pulmonary model of Rhizopus in mice.
• 60P was recently awarded a U.S. patent covering tafenoquine for treatment of COVID-19 and other lung infections.
• “A substantial unmet need exists for clinical therapies that treat and prevent life-threatening fungal infections,” said Chief Executive Officer of 60 Degrees Pharmaceuticals, Geoffrey Dow.

• “The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the development of numerous molecular point-of-care platforms to bring rapid respiratory testing closer to patients.
• Unfortunately, very few are designed to effectively address the needs of women’s and sexual health,” said Rob Kelley, chief executive officer at Talis Biomedical.
• In females, CT and TV were detected in 19/20 contrived vaginal swab samples at concentrations of 1 IFU/mL and 5 cells/mL, respectively.
• LODs will be confirmed once a fully developed vulvovaginal candidiasis assay is integrated on the Talis One test cartridge.

• You might have to take a combination of drugs for weeks to overcome the infection, which could result in more severe side effects.
• The yeast Candida auris has recently emerged as a potentially dangerous fungal infection for hospital patients and nursing home residents.
• I am a microbiologist researching new ways to kill fungi.

Targeting the sensitive parts of fungal cells

• Fungal cells contain a structure called a cell wall that helps maintain their shape and protects them from the environment.
• Fungal cell walls are constructed in part from several different types of polysaccharides, which are long strings of sugar molecules linked together.
• The fungal cell wall is an attractive target for drugs because human cells do not have a cell wall, so drugs that block chitin and beta-glucan production will have fewer side effects.

How fungi become drug resistant

• For decades, scientists have been studying how fungi overcome drugs designed to weaken or kill them.
• In the case of echinocandins, Candida auris commonly uses three tricks to beat these treatments: hide, build and change.
• The third trick fungi rely on is to change the shape of the beta-glucan production enzyme so echinocandins cannot block it.
• These mutations allow beta-glucan production to continue even in the presence of the drug.

New tactics to fight fungi

• Thankfully, scientists and physicians are researching new ways to kill Candida auris and similar fungi.
• For example, there are two drugs in development, rezafungin and ibrexafungerp, that appear to be able to stop beta-glucan production even in fungi resistant to echinocandins.
• A complementary approach my research group is exploring is whether a class of enzymes called glycoside hydrolases might also be able to combat drug-resistant fungi.

• Eden Park, an industry-leading manufacturer of Far-UVC technology for continuous disinfection of air and surfaces, is excited to introduce BusShield222™, the first solution dedicated to continuous disinfection of school bus and public transportation fleets.
• View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230418005461/en/
  Parents need to feel safe when putting their children on buses.
• BusShield222 provides safe and effective school bus disinfection for students, parents, staff, and drivers.
• “One thing the COVID-19 pandemic has shown is that school buses can be a high-risk area for transmission of viruses and bacteria,” said Eden Park CEO, John Yerger.