Bacterial resistance to the PMX molecules by Falconer66a

Frankly, the PolyMedix PMX molecules are simply resistance proof. In order for a bacterium to gain resistance it would have to evolve an entire new plasma membrane with a bilipid structure entirely different from what it’s genetically programed to synthesize and utilize. Dr. DeGrado’s molecules are designed to spontaneously latch on to both the hydrophillic outer layer of the membrane and bore into the hydrophobic interior fatty layer. When this happens, the membrane loses integrity and rips apart. The stuff in the cell is free then to diffuse out. The bacterium is then functionally dead.

To keep any of that from happening, the bacterium must present a different membrane without its peculiar hydrophyllic and hydrophobic layers—which are unique in bacteria compared to unaffected animal (human) cell membranes.

I’ve said it before. There simply cannot be any appearance of bacterial resistance to the PMX molecules.

PolyMedix molecules have no need to get through the plasma membrane of the bacteria. They must merely touch them, and they dissolve, so to speak. 


************************************
PolyMedix molecules work—kill bacteria—in ways no existing antibiotic does. Moreover, and crucially, there is no foreseeable means by which any bacterium could evolve resistance. Notice that the PolyMedix lawyers have caused all the information from the company on this point to claim, so to speak, “Resistance is thought to be unlikely...,” or words to that effect. Those of us who know a bit about bacterial genetics and the structure and function of bacterial plasma membranes, know fully that nothing can stop the PolyMedix molecules, regardless.

The seminal phrase (and mechanism) for PMX efficacy is “membrane disruption.” No other antibiotic works this way. Penicillin, and all the rest, have to get themselves inserted inside the bacterium, where they bind on to, or otherwise disrupt crucial molecules, often essential enzymes. The PMX stuff all works from the outside, so no problems getting in.

And this is an important point, too. You mentioned that it took thousands of years for conventional resistance to occur. That’s probably not the case. Most antibiotics originated from naturally occurring molecules, often in soil. They have been confronting bacteria for millennia, and the bacteria already have genes, if expressed, that can fight them off—which they are now doing in MRSA and other resistant bacteria.

Innate, unexpressed resistance to PMX molecules will not exist. PolyMedix molecules are unique. They have on their surfaces a bunch of molecular “sticky points” and adjacent “repellant points” that when bumped against a bacterium, while merely floating around in blood, cause the bacterium’s plasma membrane to spontaneously break apart, the so-called “membrane disruption.” The PMX molecules are little armor-piercing devices that repeatedly poke holes in the bacteria, because of the unique chemistry of bacteria plasma membranes. The bacteria have no way to repair such rapid, almost instantaneous damage, nor do they have any way of making a functioning plasma membrane that does not have the “sticky spots.” It’s no-win for the germs. Period.