Clinical stage, Swiss speciality pharma company, Polyphor, has presented promising data on the Outer Membrane Protein Targeting Antibiotics (OMPTA), which is a class of antibiotic against gram-negative pathogens.
Antibiotics
The first member of the OMPTA class, Murepavadin, is currently in Phase II and will soon be entering Phase III clinical development. It is being developed for the treatment of severe Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) infection — nosocomial pneumonia — which has a death rate between 20 and 50%.
Data presented at the 27th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) have shown a high rate of clinical cure (91%) and low rate of mortality (9%) in a group of 12 patients when treated with Murepavadin for 28 days. Additionally, the data demonstrated that multiple doses of the therapy were safe and tolerated well.
As there is an increasing global problem of multi-drug resistant PA, treatment is becoming more challenging and limited options are available for patients suffering from this disease. Murepavadin is under development as a first-line treatment for these resistant cases.
“PA represents a significant threat to the most vulnerable hospital patients, including intensive care patients, those with depleted immune systems such as those with cancer, people with severe burns and premature babies in neonatal units,” explained Dr Ignacio Martin-Loeches, St James’ Hospital, Trinity College, Dublin. “Treatment options are limited and so this new class of antibiotics is desperately needed.”
Professor Antonin Torres, Respiratory Institute Hospital Clinic, Barcelona, Spain, stated: “Antibiotic resistance is one of the most serious health threats of our time with significant global implications. New treatment options are urgently needed. [The] announcement that Murepavadin has shown positive benefits in the trials offers hope for the management of this challenging patient group.”