ABSTRACT
Drugs used to fight fungal infections may cause toxic or adverse drug interactions. For this reason, there is an increase in the development of natural, semisynthetic and synthetic antifungal peptides. This study aimed to perform a patent review to identify the advances in peptides to treat fungal infections. In a preliminary assessment, 597 patents were identified from the database. Then, duplicated patents (62) and those with titles in disagreement with the scope of this review (196) were excluded. Then, six patents were not in English or Spanish. Following the screening, 288 patents were outside the focus of this review, according to their abstract and description. The final selection covered 45 patents.
Currently, medications used to treat fungal infections may interact negatively with other drugs or be hazardous to the host. Scientists have been looking for novel, safe and efficient antifungal drugs since the enhancement of fungal resistance. Antimicrobial peptides, as opposed to traditional antibiotics, offer a variety of antibacterial activity against bacteria, fungi, parasites, viruses and cancer cells. The production of isolated natural, semisynthetic and synthetic antifungal peptides has increased. As a result, patents are a reliable and up-to-date source of innovation. As a result, their content analysis provides crucial information for identifying trends in new medications and targeted treatment plans.
Subject(s)
Antifungal Agents , Mycoses , Humans , Antifungal Agents/pharmacology , Antifungal Agents/therapeutic use , Mycoses/drug therapy , Mycoses/microbiology , Peptides/pharmacology , Peptides/therapeutic useABSTRACT
Background: Antimicrobial resistance has been a threat to human health ever since the accelerated consumption of antibiotics began. Materials & methods: The present systematic review was carried out using a free and specialized online database - Espacenet - and a survey for patents of antimicrobial agents from 2010 to 2021, selecting 33 recent patents that claimed compounds with antimicrobial activity against resistant strains of Gram-negative bacteria. Results: Some different and new approaches to the development of the patented antibacterial agents were identified, such as antimicrobial peptides, nanomaterials and natural extracts. Conclusion: Some alternatives to modern antibiotics with diminished effectiveness due to antimicrobial resistance were spotted. Nevertheless, many challenges remain to establish a robust and sustainable antibacterial R&D pipeline.
