Oscient's Ramoplanin: effective in vitro

USA-based Oscient Pharmaceuticals says that its lead product candidate, Ramoplanin, a novel glycolipodepsipeptide antibiotic under development for the treatment of severe Clostridium difficile-associated disease, demonstrated high in vitro activity against all strains tested at concentrations below those clinically achievable in human trials and no resistance was observed.

As part of the study, which was presented at the 45th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, lead investigator Dale Gerding tested over 100 distinct clinical C difficile isolates from varying geographies collected over 20 years. He found that, at an MIC90 of 0.5mcg/ml, Ramoplanin was active against all isolates tested, including resistant strains and those associated with a recent outbreak of the disease.