Summit Therapeutics PLC’s (LON:SUMM, NASDAQ:SMMT) new antibiotic for Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) has been shown to have further major benefits over the gold-standard treatment.
The ongoing phase II CoDIFy trial of ridinilazole has indicated it is more effective at preserving gut microbiome of patients than the go-to drug vancomycin.
This is important as disruption of the gut microbiome may explain why the infection recurs or some patients don’t have a sustained response to the drugs.
Ridinilazole, which could be used as a broad treatment for CDI, has already demonstrated “substantial clinical benefit over vancomycin”, including a big reduction in the recurrence of CDI.
The latest data will be presented at a conference called ASM Microbe 2016, which is being held in Boston.
Researcher Dale Gerding, who is Professor of Medicine at Loyola University, Chicago, said: "Ridinilazole is a shining example of translational medicine, where its high selectivity in the lab has read through to a preserved microbiome in trial patients, ultimately resulting in significantly more sustained clinical responses in a phase II trial compared to the standard of care.
"These and additional supporting data presented at ASM Microbe show the broad potential of ridinilazole as a novel treatment for CDI, and I look forward to its continued clinical development."