Destiny Pharma PLC (AIM:DEST) hailed the findings of US researchers that underlined the safety of the company’s lead asset.
Professor Dale Gerding and his team at the VA Hines laboratories assessed whether a toxic gene found in C. difficile infection (CDI (NYSE:CDI)) can be transferred to Destiny drug NTCD-M3.
In short, they found it could not. Gerding, who sits on Destiny’s scientific advisory board, said: “We were unable to demonstrate this transfer to NTCD-M3 in multiple laboratory attempts, suggesting that NTCD-M3 possesses mechanisms that resist such transfer.
“More importantly, such transfers have never been observed in animal models or humans treated with NTCD-M3, indicating that PaLoc [pathogenicity locus] transfer is highly unlikely to occur in clinical practice."
The company is making final preparations to take NTCD-M3, a new antibiotic treatment for CDI (NYSE:CDI), into phase III clinical trials while seeking a partner to help co-fund the studies and lead the commercialisation process.
C. difficile is the leading cause of hospital-acquired infections. US data shows it affects 500,000 patients a year with 29,000 deaths when it recurs.
Because of antibiotic resistance governments are looking for new drugs to tackle infections.