According to Reuters, Nabriva Therapeutics’ experimental antibiotic for community-acquired bacterial pneumonia (CABP) met the main goal of a late-stage study. Shares for the company nearly doubled after news of the positive results.
The clinical trial, which was the first of two late-stage studies, showed that the company’s drug, lefamulin, was as effective as the commonly used antibiotic moxifloxacin.
Nabriva’s treatment belongs to a new class of antibiotics called pleuromutilins, which inhibit bacterial growth by binding to a specific site on the bacterial ribosome that is responsible for its protein synthesis.
Retapumulin, which is developed by GlaxoSmithKline Plc, was the first pleuromutilin to be approved for use in humans, but only for topical applications.If Nabriva’s lefamulin manages to get the US FDA’s clearance after its second late-stage study, it would be the first pleuromutilin to be approved for oral or intravenous use.
