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Despite decades of research, tuberculosis remains a leading cause of death from a single infectious agent. Spectinamides are a promising novel class of antituberculosis agents, and the lead spectinamide 1810 has demonstrated excellent efficacy, safety, and drug-like properties in numerous in vitro and in vivo assessments in mouse models of tuberculosis. In the current dose ranging and dose fractionation study, we used 29 different combinations of dose level and dosing frequency to characterize the exposure-response relationship for spectinamide 1810 in a mouse model of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and in healthy animals. The obtained data on 1810 plasma concentrations and counts of CFU in lungs were analyzed using a population pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) approach as well as classical anti-infective PK/PD indices. The analysis results indicate that there was no difference in the PK of 1810 in infected compared to healthy, uninfected animals. The PK/PD index analysis showed that bacterial killing of 1810 in mice was best predicted by the ratio of maximum free drug concentration to MIC (fC(max)/MIC) and the ratio of the area under the free concentration-time curve to the MIC (fAUC/MIC) rather than the cumulative percentage of time that the free drug concentration is above the MIC (f%T(MIC)). A novel PK/PD model with consideration of postantibiotic effect could adequately describe the exposure-response relationship for 1810 and supports the notion that the in vitro observed postantibiotic effect of this spectinamide also translates to the in vivo situation in mice. The obtained results and pharmacometric model for the exposure-response relationship of 1810 provide a rational basis for dose selection in future efficacy studies of this compound against M. tuberculosis.

Despite decades of research, tuberculosis remains the oldest pathogen-based disease that is the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent. Among many anti-tubercular therapies under investigation, the semisynthetic compounds spectinamides are a promising novel class of anti-tuberculosis agents. One such lead candidate, spectinamide 1810, and backup spectinamide 1599 have demonstrated excellent efficacy, safety, and drug-like properties in various in vitro and in vivo assessments. The dose-ranging and dose fractionation studies were designed to characterize the dose-exposure-response relationship for lead and backup spectinamide in a mouse model of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. In this current study, we used 26 and 23 combinations of dose level and dosing frequency for the lead and backup spectinamide, respectively. The dedicated pharmacokinetic studies with a collection of series of blood samples were conducted in healthy animals. Population pharmacokinetic analysis was performed using non-linear mixed effect modeling to estimate pharmacokinetic parameters in healthy animals. The Bayesian principles were applied for reliable pharmacokinetic estimation in infected animals by using informed priors obtained from healthy animals. The individual pharmacokinetic parameters were obtained for infected animals through post-hoc estimation and subsequently used for pharmacokinetic/-pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) indices and mechanism-based PK/PD modeling. The obtained data on spectinamides’ plasma concentrations and counts of colony-forming units were analyzed using a PK/PD approach as well as classical anti-infective PK/PD indices. The population pharmacokinetic analysis results suggest that there is no difference in the pharmacokinetic parameters of lead and backup spectinamide in infected animals as compared to healthy animals. The PK/PD index analysis showed that the efficacy of spectinamide 1810 is largely driven by concentration (Cmax/MIC) and exposure (AUC/MIC) rather than a threshold minimum inhibitory level (T>MIC). Although similar results were obtained for spectinamide 1599 in previously performed in vitro experiments, in the present in vivo studies, spectinamide 1599 did not demonstrate the expected correlation between efficacy and PK/PD indices. Therefore, we could not identify major drivers for the efficacy of this compound. Additionally, a novel mechanism-based PK/PD model with consideration to post-antibiotic effect could adequately describe the exposure-response relationship for lead and backup spectinamide. This supports the idea that the in vitro observed post-antibiotic effect of these spectinamides can translate to the in vivo situation, as well. Altogether we suggest, the obtained results and pharmacometric model for the exposure-response relationship of lead and backup spectinamides provide a rational basis for dose selection for future efficacy studies of these compounds against Mycobacterium tuberculosis in mice and other animal species.

Spectinamides are a novel series of spectinomycin analogs being developed for the treatment of tuberculosis. Intrapulmonary aerosol (IPA) administration of lead spectinamide 1599 has previously been shown to be more efficacious than subcutaneous (SC) administration at comparable doses. The objective of the current study was to characterize the disposition of 1599 in plasma and lungs in mice in order to provide a potential rationale for the observed efficacy differences. 200 mg/kg of 1599 was administered to healthy BALB/c mice by SC injection or by IPA delivery. Plasma and major organs were collected at specified time points until 8 h after dosing. Drug concentrations were measured by LC-MS/MS and analyzed by noncompartmental pharmacokinetic analysis. 1599 demonstrated rapid absorption into plasma after IPA and SC administration, resulting in very similar plasma exposure for both routes. In contrast, drug exposure in the lungs was 48 times higher following IPA as compared to SC administration, which is highly desirable as the lungs are the main site of infection in pulmonary TB. The higher local exposure in the lungs is likely the basis for the increased efficacy after IPA compared to SC administration. Overall, this study supports the pulmonary route as a potential pathway for the treatment of tuberculosis with 1599.

A flexure based compliant parallel (4-bar) mechanism for linear translational motion actuated via a precision slide has been proposed. Due to the flexures a miniaturised mechanism is possible overcoming the limitations of rigid link mechanisms. In addition since a compliant mechanism has a monolithic structure no assembly is required. The compliant mechanism is designed using Pseudo Rigid Body Model (PRBM) approach and results obtained are compared with finite element analysis. An experimental setup is developed incorporating a microslide as an actuator for 4-bar compliant mechanism and displacement is measured using 3D optical profilometer. The performance of the compliant parallel mechanism demonstrated by experiments validates the simulation results and hence PRBM results. The effect of point of motion actuation on performance of mechanism is also investigated.