Basilea's Antibiotic BAL5788 - Unlikely to Induce Resistance in MRSA

05-May-2004

Basilea Pharmaceutica AG presented in vitro data at the 14th European Congress on Clinical microbiology and infectious diseases (ECCMID), demonstrating that BAL9141 (the active component of prodrug BAL5788) is unlikely to induce significant resistance in methicillin-resistant Staphyloccus aureus (MRSA). In addition, data was presented demonstrating that MRSA are less prone to develop resistance to BAL5788 than to either linezolid or moxifloxacin.

Passage data presented by Heller et al. (2004) showed that the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of BAL5788 for MRSA strains changed much less than the MIC of either linezolid or moxifloxacin did and reached a markedly lower value that remained constant over a greater number of passages compared to those obtained with linezolid or moxifloxacin. DNA sequencing also demonstrated that there were no alterations in the penicillin-binding proteins of the MRSA exposed to BAL5788.

"These important data have elegantly demonstrated that BAL5788 exhibits a low propensity to select for endogenous resistance by methicillin-resistant staphylococci, an essential feature for any new antibiotic that may be used to treat such infections. This study, as well as the other seven posters/abstracts presented for BAL5788 at ECCMID this year, further reinforce the profile of BAL5788 as a high potential compound," said Professor Jutta Heim, Basilea's Chief Scientific Officer.

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