Oritavancin Demonstrates Superior In Vitro Activity to Vancomycin and Metronidazole Against C. Difficile Bacteria
CHICAGO, September 19, 2007 /PRNewswire/ -- Targanta Therapeutics Corporation today released data from two studies comparing the in vitro activity of its lead antibiotic drug candidate, oritavancin, to that of other antibiotics against Clostridium difficile bacteria. Results are being presented today at the 47th Annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) taking place in Chicago, IL.
C. difficile are anaerobic, gram-positive, spore-forming bacteria that are a major cause of morbidity in the hospitalized elderly. C. difficile infection is associated with many diseases, the most significant of which are uncomplicated diarrhea and pseudomembranous colitis, or severe infection of the colon. Often, after normal gut flora are eradicated by the use of antibiotics, it is postulated that C. difficile spores refractory to current antimicrobial therapies persist, causing recurrent infections. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that each year nearly 10 percent of all hospitalized patients, or two million patients, contract C. difficile infections during their stay.
In the first study, presented as a poster entitled "In Vitro Susceptibility of Genotypically Distinct Clostridium difficile Strains to Oritavancin," researchers tested the activity of oritavancin versus the standards of care, metronidazole and vancomycin, against 33 genotypically distinct strains of C. difficile bacteria. Overall, in this study, oritavancin was more active than either metronidazole or vancomycin, and oritavancin was more active than vancomycin against 94% of the C. difficile strains tested by the broth macrodilution method.
In the second study, accepted as a late-breaker poster presentation entitled "Activity of Metronidazole, Vancomycin and Oritavancin Against Epidemic Clostridium difficile Spores," researchers compared the activity of oritavancin, metronidazole and vancomycin against epidemic C. difficile spores using spiral gradient endpoint, agar-based culture, and phase contrast microscopy. Using these three different experimental methods, results from the study indicated that oritavancin interacts with and disrupts the transition from dormant C. difficile spores to vegetative cells to a greater extent than existing therapeutic antimicrobial agents. In addition, there was a marked difference in oritavancin activity against C. difficile spores versus vegetative cells (5- to 13-fold lower MICs against the spores); Targanta believes that such a phenomenon has not been reported previously.
About Oritavancin
Oritavancin is a novel semi-synthetic lipoglycopeptide antibiotic candidate with potent bactericidal (killing) activity against a broad spectrum of gram-positive bacteria. The product candidate has been tested in over 1500 patients and has completed two Phase 3 studies for the treatment of complicated skin and skin structure infections (cSSSI) in which the primary endpoints were met. Targanta believes oritavancin's properties may give it distinct advantages over currently marketed therapies and expects to submit a New Drug Application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in the first quarter of 2008 seeking to commercialize oritavancin for the treatment of cSSSI.
About Targanta Therapeutics
Targanta Therapeutics Corporation is a privately held biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing innovative antibiotics to treat serious infections in the hospital and other institutional settings. The Company's pipeline includes oritavancin, a semi-synthetic lipoglycopeptide antibiotic, for which Targanta intends to seek U.S. regulatory approval in early 2008, as well as a number of antibacterial agents in pre-clinical development. The company has operations in Cambridge, MA, Indianapolis, IN, Montreal, Quebec, Canada and Toronto, Ontario, Canada. For further information about Targanta, visit the company's website at http://www.targanta.com.
Disclaimer
All forward-looking statements and other information included in this press release are based on information available to Targanta as of the date hereof, and Targanta assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements or information. Targanta's actual results could differ materially from those described in Targanta's forward-looking statements.
CONTACT: Investors: Mark Leuchtenberger, President & Chief ExecutiveOfficer of Targanta Therapeutics Corporation, +1-617-577-9020 x222;Financial Media: Brian Ritchie of Financial Dynamics, +1-212-850-5683; orScientific Media: Annie Moore of Spectrum Science Communications,+1-202-955-6222 x2547
Web site: http://www.targanta.com/
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Posted: September 2007
