Newer antibiotic effective against deadly staph infection in trial

Basilea Pharmaceutica AG, Allschwil

27/09/2023 22:00

By Nancy Lapid
       Sept 27 (Reuters) - An antibiotic already in use in
Europe to treat pneumonia controlled deadly bloodstream
infections with Staphylococcus aureus bacteria just as
effectively as the most powerful antibiotic currently in use,
according to data from a late-stage trial. 
    Ceftobiprole from Swiss drugmaker Basilea Pharmaceutica
 BSLN.S  appeared to be equally effective as the older drug
daptomycin in the roughly one-in-four patients who had
particularly difficult to treat methicillin-resistant S. aureus
(MRSA) infections, researchers reported on Wednesday in The New
England Journal of Medicine.
    “This is an area of true need,” study leader Dr. Thomas
Holland of Duke University School of Medicine said in a
statement. “There has not been a new antibiotic approved for the
treatment of S. aureus bacteremia for over 15 years.”
    For the study, 390 patients hospitalized with complicated
bloodstream staph infections were randomly assigned to receive
infusions of ceftobiprole or daptomycin.
    The treatment was successful in 69.8% of the ceftobiprole
group and 68.7% of the daptomycin group, according to the
report. Success was defined as survival, symptom improvement,
clearance of S. aureus from the blood, absence of new
complications and no need for other antibiotics. 
    Gastrointestinal issues were the most common side effect
with both drugs.
    Daptomycin was the most recently approved new antibiotic for
S. aureus bacteremia more than 15 years ago, the researchers
noted.
    “Despite a lot of work in medical science, complicated staph
infections still have a 25% mortality rate at 90 days,” study
co-author Dr. Vance Fowler Jr. of Duke Health said in a
statement. “We need more options for treating these infections.”
    In August, Basilea Pharmaceutica filed for approval of
ceftobiprole with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
    
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 (Reporting by Nancy Lapid; editing by Bill Berkrot)
 ((Nancy.Lapid@thomsonreuters.com;))