Destiny Pharma PLC (AIM:DEST, OTC:DTTYF) said data from a study on one of its lead assets has been peer-reviewed and published in Microbiology Spectrum.
A phase II clinical trial in people with C. difficile infections (CDI) previously showed that giving NTCD-M3 after using antibiotics to treat the initial infection significantly reduced CDI recurrence.
Since then, a new antibiotic called fidaxomicin has been included in US clinical guidelines for CDI treatment. This antibiotic and its active metabolite stay in the gut longer, which could inhibit colonisation by bacteria such as Destiny's phase III-ready infection prevention drug, NTCD-M3.
This publication presented research from the microbiology research laboratory at the Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital in the US. The study examined NTCD-M3 colonisation in a CDI model after administering fidaxomicin.
The paper concluded that NTCD-M3 effectively colonises the gut after fidaxomicin treatment, indicating that NTCD-M3 would work well in patients receiving this antibiotic and older antibiotics, such as vancomycin and metronidazole.
In a statement, Dr Bill Love, Destiny's chief scientific officer, commented on the significance of the publication: "This groundbreaking research, authored by leading US CDI expert Dr Stuart Johnson, is a milestone for NTCD-M3, as fidaxomicin use is growing and it has recently been recommended as the first choice for treating CDI in the US.
"The successful colonization of the gut by NTCD-M3 after fidaxomicin shows that this live biotherapeutics product can be used with all currently recommended antibiotics to treat this serious hospital infection."