Novel Therapeutics:
Mirofend: A First-in-Class Anti-Virulence Therapy that DisarM.S. Staph Without Antibiotics
Tamia A. Harris-Tryon, M.D., Ph.D.
- Associate Professor of Dermatology and Immunology
- UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas
Mirofend is a new kind of treatment for dangerous skin infections that works by disarming bacteria rather than killing them. The discovery behind Mirofend shows that the skin hormone testosterone acts as a signal that makes *Staphylococcus aureus* more aggressive, and that a mirror-image version of testosterone can block this signal. By shutting down bacterial virulence instead of using antibiotics, Mirofend avoids driving antibiotic resistance and preserves the healthy skin microbiome. In animal models, this approach reduces skin damage and infection severity across MRSA and other clinically relevant strains, including those seen in eczema. This creates a large, differentiated opportunity in multi-billion-dollar markets such as skin and soft tissue infections and atopic dermatitis, where current therapies are increasingly failing.
