Patent ID: 8809280

Claim:
A method of treating a bacterial infection, which method comprises administering to a subject in need of such treatment a peptide, peptidomimetic or amino acid derivative having a net positive charge of at least +2 and incorporating a group of formula I: wherein any 2 from R 1 , R 2 , R 3 and R 4 are hydrogen atoms and 2 are substituting groups, which may be the same or different, comprise at least 7 non-hydrogen atoms, are lipophilic and include a cyclic group, said cyclic group not being attached directly either to the α or β carbon atom and optionally being linked or fused to a cyclic group in the other substituting group, where cyclic groups are fused the combined total number of non-hydrogen atoms for the two substituting groups is at least 12, and wherein X represents O, C, N or S, and wherein said peptide, peptidomimetic or amino acid derivative is 1 to 4 amino acids or equivalent subunits in length.