FAMU pharmacy professor receives patent to kill “superbug”

Seth Y. Ablordeppey, a professor of medicinal chemistry in the College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (COPPS), has received a patent to kill a “superbug” that has made headlines.

The Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a staph infection that is commonly called a “superbug” because it is resistant to common antibiotics. Ablordeppey is developing drug compounds to combat it using plants he found in Ghana, West Africa.  His tests have revealed antibacterial activity in the plants that heals wounds.  He is looking at their extracts to see if one will kill MRSA.

If the process is successful, it could lead an inexpensive superbug treatment.

“We wanted some simple compounds that we can synthesize in a very short period of time and we are looking towards getting compounds which are not that expensive so that people can afford them,” Ablordeppey said.

MRSA is typically more problematic for the elderly, for people with weakened immune systems, including cancer patients on chemotherapy and for patients undergoing kidney dialysis or using venous catheters or prosthetics. Just about anyone, however, can be infected by MRSA.

According to Ablordeppey, the major problem of hospital-acquired and community-acquired MRSA is that we might be on the last lines of defense against this resistant microorganism and, hence, the need to develop new and novel entities that can overcome this dreaded bug cannot be over-emphasized.

“These agents are not currently available for public use, but are undergoing the usual pre-clinical studies that would move them toward the clinic,” Ablordeppey said.  “This patent would enable us to work more arduously to achieve that objective to get the drug to health-care facilities everywhere.”