Patents on bacterial tRNA synthetase inhibitors: January 1996 to March 1999

This review focuses on patents published between January 1996 and March 1999 covering bacterial tRNA synthetase inhibitors as antibacterial agents. Nine of the eleven patents issued during this period claim new formulations, forms and uses as well as new derivatives of pseudomonic acid A (mupirocin, SmithKline Beecham), a natural product inhibitor of isoleucyl-tRNA synthetase. One patent describes a new use for indolmycin, an inhibitor of tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase, and another discloses a novel class of isoleucyl-tRNA synthetase inhibitors.