UK : Hope for powerful new C diff. treatment

Via EurekAlert, excerpt :

" New compound proves to be more effective in killing and preventing bug than one of the most widely used current treatments

MGB Biopharma, a biopharmaceutical company which has licensed technology from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland, is developing a powerful new antibiotic treatment for resistant infections including the deadly MRSA and Clostridium difficile (C. diff.) bugs.

The Glasgow-based company is working on a new compound which has proved to be more effective in killing and preventing C diff. than vancomycin, currently one of the most widely used treatments against this bacterium.

The company has selected the compound, MGB BP-3, as a drug candidate for formal pre-clinical development, with clinical trials now scheduled for 2012.

The compound acts in minor grooves, found within DNA structures, and has potential to act as an agent against bacteria including C. diff. and MRSA.

C. diff. was involved in more than 3,000 deaths in the UK in 2010.

The findings of the research are being presented on Monday, 19 September, at the 51st Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC), held in Chicago.

Dr Miroslav Ravic, Chief Executive Officer of MGB Biopharma, said: "It seems we are hearing too much about Clostridium difficile infections these days in the press, especially those acquired in hospital by elderly patients in whom the infection can be fatal."