Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Facebook Instagram Threads
    Global BiodefenseGlobal Biodefense
    Subscribe
    • Featured News
    • Funding
    • Directory
    • Jobs
    • Events
    Global BiodefenseGlobal Biodefense
    Antimicrobial Resistance

    New Antibiotic Could Provide Single-Dose Option

    By Global Biodefense StaffJune 5, 2014
    Methicillin-Resistant Staph USA300 Strain
    Methicillin-Resistant Staph Strain
    Share
    Facebook LinkedIn Reddit Email
    Methicillin-Resistant Staph Strain

    In the battle against stubborn skin infections, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a new single-dose antibiotic is as effective as a twice-daily infusion given for up to 10 days, according to a large study led by Duke Medicine researchers.

    Researchers said the advantage of the new drug, oritavancin, is its potential to curtail what has been a key driver of antibiotic resistance: a tendency for patients to stop taking antibiotics once they feel better. In such instances, the surviving bacteria may become impervious to the drugs designed to fight them.

    “The prolonged activity is what makes oritavancin distinctive,” said G. Ralph Corey, M.D., lead author of the study published June 5, 2014, in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). “This drug has a long half-life, which allows for a single-dose treatment.”

    Corey, a professor of medicine and infectious diseases at Duke University School of Medicine, led a three-year study of oritavancin that encompassed two large clinical trials enrolling nearly 2,000 patients. Findings from the trials will be presented to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as part of the drug’s approval application.

    Results reported in the NEJM are for the first of the two clinical trials, which included 475 patients randomized to take the investigational drug, and 479 patients following a typical regimen of vancomycin, including two infusions a day, for seven to 10 days.

    Researchers found that the single intravenous dose of oritavancin was as effective as vancomycin in shrinking the size of the lesion and reducing fever. Both were also similar in rates of requiring a rescue antibiotic.

    The new antibiotic also performed similarly to vancomycin in reducing the area of the wound by 20 percent or more within the first 48-72 hours of treatment, and in curing the patients of infection, including those infected with MRSA.

    “Having a single-dose drug could potentially prevent hospitalizations or reduce the amount of time patients would spend in the hospital,” Corey said.

    Read the study at the NEJM: Single-Dose Oritavancin in the Treatment of Acute Bacterial Skin Infections (subscritption required). The study was funded by The Medicines Company, which owns and is seeking to market oritavancin.

    Source: Duke University Medical Center, adapted. Image courtesy of NIAID.

    Antimicrobials MRSA
    Share. Facebook LinkedIn Reddit Email
    Previous ArticleQuantuMDx Raises Funds to Advance Handheld DNA Sequencer
    Next Article Research Findings Could Lead to SARS, MERS Vaccines

    Related Stories

    EPA Developing AMR Risk Framework for Antibacterial and Antifungal Pesticides

    September 29, 2023

    Jurata Thin Film and CastleVax Awarded Grant to Advance Thermostabilized COVID-19 Booster

    September 20, 2023

    Mount Sinai to Lead Development of Pan-Coronavirus Vaccine Under New Federal Grant

    September 17, 2023

    Smallpox Vaccines: Bavarian Nordic Awarded Another Contract to Supply EU Strategic Reserve

    September 13, 2023
    News Scan

    Biodefense Headlines – 19 September 2023

    News Scan September 19, 2023

    News highlights on health security threats and countermeasures curated by Global Biodefense This week’s selections include a global survey of gain-of-function research; funding of an mRNA mpox vaccine; Nipah virus outbreak in India; field detection of threat agents with acoustic…

    Upcoming Events

    Oct 3
    Virtual Event Virtual Event
    October 3 - October 5

    OneLab Summit 2023

    Oct 3
    Virtual Event Virtual Event
    12:00 pm - 2:00 pm EDT

    Public-Private Partnerships to Distribute, Dispense, and Administer Medical Countermeasures

    Oct 4
    Virtual Event Virtual Event
    10:00 am - 2:00 pm EDT

    Tunneling Nanotubes and Intracellular Protrusions Workshop

    Oct 12
    Virtual Event Virtual Event
    12:00 pm - 2:00 pm EDT

    Public-Private Partnerships for Acceptance and Uptake of Medical Countermeasures

    View Calendar

    Subscribe to Global Biodefense

    Get the latest news on pathogens and preparedness

    © 2023 Stemar Media Group LLC
    • About
    • Contact
    • Privacy
    • Subscribe

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

    We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are okay with it.OkPrivacy policy