Mycobacterial pathogens, including nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) and Mycobacterium tuberculosis , are pathogens of significant worldwide interest owing to their inherent drug resistance to a wide variety of FDA-approved drugs as well as causing a broad range of serious infections. Identifying new antibiotics active against mycobacterial pathogens is an urgent unmet need, especially those antibiotics that can bypass existing resistance mechanisms.

Purpose Transscleral retinal delivery of celecoxib, an anti-inflammatory and anti-VEGF agent is restricted by its poor solubility and binding to the melanin pigment in choroid-RPE. The purpose of this study was to develop soluble prodrugs of celecoxib with reduced pigment binding and enhanced retinal delivery. Methods Three hydrophilic amide prodrugs of celecoxib were synthesized and characterized for solubility and lipophilicity. In vitro melanin binding to natural melanin (Sepia Officinalis) was estimated for all three prodrugs. In vitro transport studies across isolated bovine sclera and sclera-choroid-RPE (SCRPE) were performed. Prodrug with the highest permeability across SCRPE was characterized for metabolism and cytotoxicity and its in vivo transscleral delivery in pigmented rats. Results Celecoxib succinamidic acid (CSA), celecoxib maleamidic acid (CMA), and celecoxib acetamide (CAA) were synthesized and characterized. Aqueous solubilities of CSA, CMA, and CAA were 300-, 182-, and 76-fold higher, respectively, than celecoxib. Melanin binding affinity and capacity was significantly lower than celecoxib for all three prodrugs. Rank order for the % in vitro transport across bovine sclera and SCRPE was CSA > CMA ~ CAA ~ celecoxib, with the transport being 8-fold higher for CSA than celecoxib. CSA was further assessed for its metabolic stability and in vivo delivery. CSA showed optimum metabolic stability in all eye tissues with only 10–20 % conversion to parent celecoxib in 30 minutes. Metabolic enzymes responsible for bioconversion included amidases, esterase, and cytochrome P-450. In vivo delivery in pigmented BN rats showed that CSA had 4.7-, 1.4-, 3.3-, 6.0-, and 4.5- fold higher delivery to sclera, choroid-RPE, retina, vitreous, and lens than celecoxib. CSA has no cytotoxicity in ARPE-19 cells in the concentration range of 0.1 to 1000 μM. Conclusions Celecoxib succinamidic acid is a soluble prodrug of celecoxib with reduced melanin binding which enhances transscleral retinal delivery of celecoxib.

The authors retract the article "Hydrophilic Prodrug Approach for Reduced Pigment Binding and Enhanced Transscleral Retinal Delivery of Celecoxib", Mol. Pharmaceutics 2012, 9 (3), 605-614, following a scientific misconduct investigation by the University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus, which concluded that the LC-MS data supporting Figures 3, 5, 6, and 7 were falsified by Rajendra Kadam to reduce variability in measurements, to produce smooth kinetics, or to create statistical differences. The fabrication of data related to these figures raises questions about the conclusions within the paper.