Patent ID: 8859626

Claim:
A method of reducing the virulence of a bacterium that expresses accessory gene regulator A (AgrA) selected from the group consisting of Staphylococcus bacterium and Streptococcus bacterium comprising: administering to the bacterium an amount of AgrA antagonist effective to inhibit the synthesis of one or more virulence factors by the bacterium, the AgrA antagonist comprising a phenyl or substituted phenyl linked to a substituted aryl by a linker, having the general formula: wherein R 1 , R 2 , R 3 , R 4 , and R 5 are each independently selected from the group consisting of H, hydroxy, carboxy, lower alkoxy, lower alkoxyhydroxy, lower alkyl, alkenyl, sulfonic, and halo; and Y is a lower alkanoyloxy; and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof.