World leading C. difficile scientists to present landmark data on the ability of NTCD-M3 to colonise the gut after antibiotic administration
Brighton, United Kingdom – 12 May 2022 – Destiny Pharma (AIM: DEST), a clinical stage innovative biotechnology company focused on the development of novel medicines that can prevent life-threatening infections, today announces that data generated from a recent C. difficile infection (CDI) model study, on the ability of non-toxigenic C. difficile strain M3 (NTCD-M3) to successfully colonise the gut following administration of antibiotics, has been accepted for presentation at the prestigious Anaerobe 2022 Conference in Seattle, WA, US on Saturday, 30th July 2022.
As previously reported, a Phase 2 clinical trial in patients suffering CDI demonstrated that administration of NTCD-M3 shortly after the use of antibiotics to treat the initial infection successfully reduced recurrence from 30% in placebo to 5% in treated patients. Patients received either vancomycin or metronidazole to treat the initial toxic C. difficile infection before receiving NTCD-M3 treatment. Since the end of this trial, a new antibiotic, fidaxomicin, has been added to US clinical guidelines for treating CDI. It is known that fidaxomicin resides for a longer period within the gut potentially inhibiting the colonisation by bacteria such as NTCD-M3. This latest study by the Microbiology Research Laboratory at the Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital in the US sought to address this question by monitoring the colonisation of NTCD-M3 in an established CDI model following administration of fidaxomicin.
In summary, this study conducted in the lab of the authors at the Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital, clearly demonstrated that NTCD-M3 was able to effectively colonise the gut following fidaxomicin administration indicating that NTCD-M3 would be effective in patients receiving this antibiotic as well as older antibiotics such as vancomycin and metronidazole.
Dr Bill Love, Chief Scientific Officer of Destiny Pharma, said: “The relevance and impact of this study cannot be underestimated as it indicates that the clinical use of fidaxomicin to treat CDI is unlikely to affect the ability of Destiny’s late-stage asset, NTCD-M3, to colonise the gut and prevent recurrence of CDI. This is important as fidaxomicin has recently been added to the recommended guidelines for treatment of CDI in the US, and the use of this new antibiotic is growing. We therefore remain confident that our groundbreaking NTCD-M3 live biotherapeutics product can be used alongside all currently recommended antibiotics in the treatment of this serious hospital infection.”.
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