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(Stillwater, Okla., October 30, 2012) – Researchers at Oklahoma State University’s Center for Veterinary Health Sciences have taken the first step in finding a new treatment for an old threat—anthrax. William Barrow, PhD, professor and Sitlington Chair in Infectious Diseases in the center’s Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Jürg Dreier with Basilea Pharmaceutica of Basel, Switzerland, and Esther Barrow, Dr. Barrow’s veterinary lab manager and wife, are listed as the inventors on U.S. Patent 8,268,825, “Method for the Treatment of Anthrax Infections.”
“This patent is part of an overall effort to develop a new class of antimicrobial drugs to target Bacillus anthracis or anthrax,” explains Dr. Barrow. “The development of new drugs is very important, especially for biodefense purposes in the case of a bioterrorist attack. When an enzyme is naturally resistant to the main drug now in use, new drugs are needed to overcome that resistance.”
The patent resulted from research that was funded through a National Institutes of Health/National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Grant R21-AI-055643 (2003-2006). Funding for continuation of the work that Dr. Barrow and his team conduct is through NIH/NIAID Grant R01-AI090685 for $4 million (2010-2015).
Barrow is well known for his research. He has spent the last decade investigating defenses against drug resistance, emerging infectious diseases, drug development and drug delivery.
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