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Oscient says research shows Ramoplanin "highly active" against C. difficile
New York, Dec. 19 - Oscient Pharmaceuticals Inc. said new data showed its Ramoplanin antibiotic was "highly active" in vitro against all strains of clostridium difficile.
The drug was tested at concentrations below those clinically achievable in human trials. No resistance was observed.
"Several recent studies have documented the emergence of severe CDAD [C. difficile-associated disease] cases across North America and in Europe, demonstrating the urgent need for novel therapeutics for this epidemic," said Dale Gerding, professor in the department of medicine at Loyola University of Chicago Stritch School of Medicine and lead author on one of the posters and senior author of a recent New England Journal of Medicine article examining isolates from the virulent outbreaks of CDAD.
"Our research examined C. difficile isolates from a broad international collection assembled during the past two decades. In our study, Ramoplanin was highly active against all of the isolates tested and holds potential as a promising treatment for CDAD."
The data showed the in vitro activity of several products against C. difficile, including recently described epidemic strains that have shown increased virulence.
Ramoplanin, Oscient's glycolipodepsipeptide antibiotic, was among the agents tested.
The research was presented in posters at the 45th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy on Sunday.
In another poster, A.C. Labbe and colleagues tested strains of C. difficile associated with a recent outbreak in Canada and demonstrated that Ramoplanin and rifampin exhibited the highest in vitro activity against the bacteria.
Oscient is a biopharmaceutical company based in Waltham, Mass., that develops therapeutics to address unmet medical needs.
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