Ceragenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a

biopharmaceutical A biopharmaceutical, also known as a biological medical product, or biologic, is any pharmaceutical drug product manufactured in, extracted from, or semisynthesized from biological sources. Different from totally synthesized pharmaceuticals, t ...

company headquartered in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

that develops prescription therapies based on a platform of proprietary surface active technologies—skin Barrier Repair Technology (BRT) and Cerageninis, a new class of broad spectrum

anti-infective An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable d ...

s. The company discovers, develops and commercializes anti-infective drugs based on its proprietary class of compounds, Ceragenins. Active against a range of

gram positive In bacteriology, gram-positive bacteria are bacteria that give a positive result in the Gram stain test, which is traditionally used to quickly classify bacteria into two broad categories according to their type of cell wall. Gram-positive bact ...

and

gram negative The gram (originally gramme; SI unit symbol g) is a unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI) equal to one one thousandth of a kilogram. Originally defined as of 1795 as "the absolute weight of a volume of pure water equal to th ...

bacteria Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometr ...

, these agents are being developed as anti-infective medical device coatings and as therapeutics for antibiotic-resistant organisms.

Products

Ceragenix developed EpiCeram, a topical non-steroidal skin care cream based on the research of Peter Elias for the treatment of atopic dermatitis (

eczema Dermatitis is inflammation of the skin, typically characterized by itchiness, redness and a rash. In cases of short duration, there may be small blisters, while in long-term cases the skin may become thickened. The area of skin involved can ...

). Ceragenix's second platform technology addresses multidrug resistant

bacterial Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were amon ...

and

viral infection A viral disease (or viral infection) occurs when an organism's body is invaded by pathogenic viruses, and infectious virus particles (virions) attach to and enter susceptible cells. Structural Characteristics Basic structural characteristics, ...

s. The anti-infective technology is based on the research of Dr. Paul B. Savage, Professor and Associate Chair of Departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry at

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-d ...

(BYU, Provo, Utah). These compounds are aminosterols that mimic the activity of the naturally occurring antimicrobial peptides which form part of the human immune system and early line of defense against bacterial, viruses, fungi and certain cancers. The Ceragenins have been the subject of ''in vitro'' analysis and have demonstrated a range of action against methicillin-resistant ''Staphylococcus aureus'' (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, MRSA), vancomycin-resistant ''Staphylococcus aureus'' (VRSA), tobramycin-resistant ''Pseudomonas aeruginosa'' (PATR), ''Escherichia coli'', vaccinia virus, HIV, and ''Bacillus anthracis'' (anthrax) among others. The compounds work by breaching the Bacterial outer membrane, outer membranes of their targets. The compounds are positively charged and are electrostatically attracted to the negatively charged phospholipids that tend to distinguish Prokaryotic cell, prokaryotic from eukaryotic cells.

References

External links

Innovations & Ideas."
''Denver Post''.

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20141029171034/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-1595378121.html CERAGENIX PHARMACEUTICALS SHOWS NET LOSS FOR 3rd QUARTER – US Fed News Service, Including US State News , HighBeam Research] {{Pharmaceutical companies of the United States Pharmaceutical companies of the United States Companies based in Denver Health care companies based in Colorado