Aridis Pharmaceuticals Inc. has taken a few knocks in the past year but its new agreement with the U.S. FDA is giving it an opportunity to move forward. The company’s stock (NASDAQ:ARDS) rose 115% on May 31 to close at 39 cents per share as the company and agency agreed on the design of a single confirmatory phase III superiority study of AR-301 (tosatoxumab), an adjunctive therapy for treating pneumonia caused by gram-positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus in mechanically ventilated hospitalized patients.
Researchers at NYU Langone Health and Janssen Biotech Inc. have reported on mAbtyrins, bioengineered molecules composed of human monoclonal antibodies and centyrins that are a new way to fight Staphylococcus aureus infection on all fronts.In their experiments, which were published in Cell Host & Microbe on April 24, 2023, the team described mAbtyrin, as “a protein-based therapeutic that targets 10 disease-causing mechanisms employed by S. aureus,” senior author Victor Torres told BioWorld.
Researchers from Shandong Academy of Agricultural Science reported the discovery of novel pleuromutilin derivatives as potential antibiotic agents. Synthesis and optimization of a series of pyridinium cation-substituted pleuromutilin analogues led to the identification of compound [I] as the lead candidate with potent antibacterial activity.
Erytech Pharma AS, repositioning itself to recover from a tough phase III cancer study failure in 2021, will merge with Pherecydes Pharma SA, which specializes in precision phage therapy for treating resistant and/or complicated bacterial infections.
Low enrollment in a phase III trial and a missed primary endpoint sent Aridis Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s shares tumbling by 35% on Jan. 26, although the company’s AR-301 (tosatoxumab) showed superior efficacy over the control group in Staphylococcus aureus ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) patients.
Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc. signed a $170 million deal to acquire all the outstanding shares of molecular diagnostics subsidiary Curiosity Diagnostics SpZoo from Scope Fluidics SA. The deal consists of approximately $100 million in cash and up to $70 million in future milestone payments. The pre-commercial platform company is the developer of a CE-marked 15-minute point-of-care (POC) rapid PCR system which tests for SARS-CoV-2 virus and methicillin-resistant or-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus bacteria (MRSA/MSSA).
The data safety monitoring board overseeing Contrafect Corp.’s phase III study of exebacase, a hydrolase stimulator for treating Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia, recommended the study be stopped. In an interim analysis, the board said the conditional power of the study was below the prespecified threshold for futility.
COVID-19 is the unwanted gift that keeps on giving. The U.S. CDC unwrapped one of those “presents” in a July 12 report that showed the threat of antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) infections has worsened — with resistant hospital-onset infections and deaths in the U.S. each increasing at least 15% during the first year of the pandemic.
