Acurx Pharmaceuticals Secures New Patent in Australia For Novel DNA Polymerase IIIC Inhibitors

Acurx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a late-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering a new class of small-molecule antibiotics for hard-to-treat bacterial infections, announced today that the Australian Patent Office has granted a new composition-of-matter patent related to its DNA Polymerase IIIC inhibitors.

This latest grant expands Acurx’s global intellectual property portfolio, protecting its proprietary antibiotic technologies. The company has now secured three U.S. patents, as well as additional patents in Israel, Japan, India, and Australia, with further country-level applications pending. All patents cover Acurx’s ACX-375C program, which focuses on inhibiting DNA Polymerase IIIC (pol IIIC)—a critical enzyme in bacterial DNA replication.

Robert J. DeLuccia, Executive Chairman of Acurx, stated: "Achieving this patent in Australia adds to our growing number of countries where we are patent protected for a long period of time as we further develop our innovative, AI-supported drug discovery platform of second-generation DNA pol IIIC inhibitors. We believe these new compounds have the potential to transform the antibiotic treatment paradigm to combat multidrug-resistant Gram-positive pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus, including MRSA, VRE, and PRSP; furthermore, these compounds are expected to be active against B. anthracis or anthrax, a Bioterrorism Category A Threat-Level pathogen".

The ACX-375C program represents a key innovation in the fight against Gram-positive bacterial infections. Acurx’s antibiotics utilize its Gram-Positive Selective Spectrum (GPSS®) approach, which targets the active site of the Gram-positive bacterial enzyme pol IIIC, halting DNA replication and leading to bacterial cell death.

Acurx’s research and development pipeline includes antibiotic candidates directed against Clostridioides difficile, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE), drug-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae (DRSP), and Bacillus anthracis (anthrax)—a Category A bioterrorism threat pathogen.

Robert J. DeLuccia, further stated, "While our lead DNA pol IIIC inhibitor is Phase 3-ready for oral treatment of C. difficile Infection, and has validated the bacterial target for DNA pol IIIC inhibitors, our new preclinical compounds are systemically absorbed for potential oral and parenteral use in clinical settings such as acute bacterial skin and skin-structure infections (ABSSSI, including MRSA), Community-acquired bacterial pneumonia (CABP), hospital and/or ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia (HABP/VABP); bacteremia with or w/o sepsis and/or infectious endocarditis; bone/joint infections, prosthetic joint infections and inhalational anthrax".

The company’s lead clinical candidate, ibezapolstat, is Phase 3-ready for the treatment of C. difficile infection (CDI). Plans are underway to initiate international pivotal trials for ibezapolstat in the near term. In addition, Acurx is advancing a preclinical oral antibiotic candidate for the treatment of acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSI), alongside a parallel development program for inhaled anthrax therapy.

Acurx’s expanding patent portfolio and focused antimicrobial R&D underscore its leadership in developing novel, mechanism-based antibiotic solutions designed to address the global crisis of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).