Rib-X Pharmaceuticals (Rib-X) has entered into a collaborative research agreement with Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Under the science plan for the collaboration, David Hooper of MGH will evaluate Rib-X’s novel fluoroquinolone, delafloxacin, in an established animal model, to determine resistance development and to validate the activity and mechanism of action of delafloxacin against microorganisms such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
Delafloxacin, which is ready to enter phase 3 clinical trials, is fluoroquinolone, that has demonstrated better activity than other quinolones against Gram-positive bacteria, including isolates of MRSA that are quinolone-resistant.
The company has previously reported positive results from a phase 2 trial utilising the IV formulation of delafloxacin in complicated skin and skin structure infections (cSSSI). Delafloxacin has successfully completed two additional phase 2 trials with the oral formulation.
In microbiological tests of large numbers of contemporary clinical isolates of quinolone resistant MRSA, delafloxacin has been shown to be at least 32-fold more potent than levofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, gatifloxacin and moxifloxacin.
In the study, Delafloxacin has been shown to be more potent than existing quinolones against a range of Gram-positive, anaerobic, and Gram-negative organisms. Rib-X is currently developing both IV and oral formulations of delafloxacin for use in surgical prophylaxis and other therapeutic areas.
Susan Froshauer, president and CEO of Rib-X, said: “The opportunity to work with Dr David Hooper on the in vivo mechanism of action of delafloxacin is a very important extension of the research we have done here at Rib-X. This collaboration will demonstrate the potential for delafloxacin to take its place in the arsenal of drugs for battling recalcitrant quinolone-resistant infections.”