Based on its potential as an excellent therapeutic agent, the snake cathelicdin antimicrobial peptide developed by the Kunming Institute of Zoology, the CAS, received a national invention patent in July 2011 (Patent No. ZL200810058260.9).

According to the researchers, the snake cathelicdin peptide, which is highlighted by the merits of low cytoxity and hemolytic activity, has demonstrated strong antibiotic activities to over 500 clinical drug-fast bacteria strains. Meanwhile, it has well performed in the in vivo pharmacodynamic experimental tests, which include the pseudomonas aeruginosa infected cornea traumatic model,  artificial material post-implantation infection model, local traumatic infection model and LSP endotoxic shock syndrome model. Those unique characteristics of snake cathelicdin peptide enable it superior to Pexiganan, the candidate medication which is under phase III clinical trail in US.

A recent statistics shows that the antibiotics market value has rocketed to over $30 billions till now, but unfortunately, scientists almost had harvested nothing in developing novel applicable ones during the past half century. Even worse, due to the antibiotic abuse, many drug resistant bacteria strains have been hatched, like the super bacteria with the NDM-1 plasmid, which are seriously jeopardizing public health. 

The animal antimicrobial peptides have become the rising star in the research of new antibiotics due to their obvious advantages of destroying the bacteria membrane directly and have minor side effects in developing drug resistance. The snake cathelicdin antimicrobial peptide described in this patent has set a successful example for the application of the various animal antimicrobial peptides.