July 23, 2020 at 7:00 AM EDT
-In pre-clinical model, lefamulin shows anti-inflammatory activity comparable to dexamethasone
-Nabriva awarded grant funding from the Austrian Research Promotion Agency to further characterize the anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties of Lefamulin
DUBLIN, Ireland, July 23, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Nabriva Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ: NBRV), a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the commercialization and development of innovative anti-infective agents to treat serious infections, announced today the results of a pre-clinical study demonstrating potent anti-inflammatory activity of lefamulin. In a mouse model of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induced lung neutrophilia, lefamulin showed anti-inflammatory properties similar to dexamethasone, a corticosteroid commonly used for its anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties. Lefamulin, the company’s novel pleuromutilin antibiotic, is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the brand name XENLETA® for the treatment of community-acquired bacterial pneumonia (CABP) in adults. XENLETA is the first IV and oral antibiotic with a novel mechanism of action approved by the FDA in nearly two decades. The study was accepted as a pre-print manuscript in bioRxiv.
The research findings reflect the first study investigating the anti-inflammatory activity of lefamulin. In the mouse model of LPS induced lung neutrophilia, pretreatment with lefamulin at doses of 35, 70, and 140 mg/kg administered subcutaneously (SC) 30 minutes before intranasal LPS administration challenge was associated with almost complete reduction in total cell and neutrophil recruitment to the lungs at 4 hours post challenge compared with the vehicle control group (no treatment). Importantly, lefamulin demonstrated reductions in total cell and neutrophil counts that were similar to those observed with dexamethasone at all lefamulin doses tested.
Nabriva has also been awarded grant funding from the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) as part of their “Emergency Call for COVID-19” research. This funding will support additional in vitro and animal experiments designed to investigate and further characterize the anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties of lefamulin, as well as our proprietary library of pleuromutilin compounds.
“The anti-inflammatory effect lefamulin demonstrated in this study is very encouraging,” said Jennifer Schranz, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Nabriva. “Inflammation complicates several pulmonary diseases including pneumonia and contributes substantially to morbidity and mortality in patients. We are excited to partner with the FFG to further investigate the anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties of lefamulin and its potential application to inflammatory pulmonary diseases.”
Complete findings of the study titled “Anti-inflammatory Activity of Lefamulin in a Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Lung Neutrophilia Model” is available online at: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.06.23.168393v1.full.pdf. Additional details about the FFG and the emergency call for COVID-19 research can be found at https://www.ffg.at/en/news/corona-call.
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