Swiss-based specialty pharma company, Polyphor, has announced that the first patient has been enrolled in the Phase III clinical trial for murepavadin (POL7080) — a pathogen-specific antibiotic being developed for the treatment of nosocomial pneumonia.
Patient recruitment
Murepavadin is Polyphor’s lead compound in its new class of antibiotics — the Outer Membrane Protein Targeting Antibiotics (OMPTA). Conversely to other broad-spectrum antibiotics, murepavadin is a pathogen specific antibiotic with a novel mechanism of action against which pathogens may only build resistance slowly.
“The treatment of HABP/VABP caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa is becoming more challenging and new therapeutic options are desperately needed,” commented Ignacio Martin-Loeches, research director of the Multidisciplinary Intensive Care Research Organisation (MICRO) at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland and chairman of the Murepavadin PRISM programme. “The very potent and extensive coverage of murepavadin positions it well where there are risk factors associated with Multi Drug Resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa nosocomial pneumonia as well as in stewardship programs where the de-escalation of broad spectrum agents is warranted after availability of susceptibility data.”
“We believe murepavadin may lead to a paradigm shift in the treatment of nosocomial pneumonia due to Pseudomonas aeruginosa and become the standard of care in the treatment of patients with confirmed nosocomial pneumonia due to multidrug resistant and extensively drug-resistant strains,” added Dr Debra Barker, chief medical and development officer of Polyphor. “Our Phase II study showed promising results and, following discussions with both the FDA and EMA, we have agreed a streamlined development pathway towards completion of Phase III clinical development for murepavadin. The enrolment of the first patient in our European trial is a significant step towards bringing forward this new treatment option.”