Second Trial Positive For Magainin's Cytolex

Magainin has told the Marketletter, in an interview at ICAAC, that itstopical broad-spectrum magainin peptide antibiotic, Cytolex (pexiganan acetate or MSI-78), has been shown in a second, confirmatory Phase III trial that it is as effective as the oral quinolone antibiotic ofloxacin in the treatment of infection in diabetic foot ulcers. Taken together, the two trials represent a database including 926 patients.

Although not a primary endpoint of the study, it was noted that 18%-30% of patients' wounds were resolved with both treatments around six weeks after treatment was initiated.

No Issue Of Side Effects Or Resistance Cytolex has advantages over current diabetic foot ulcer treatment (principally systemic fluoroquinolone therapy) in that it is given topically and has no side effects, says the company. It adds that resistance has not been detected in more than a decade of experimental work or in clinical trials (this becomes more significant when it is considered that about 100 different organisms may be present in diabetic foot ulcers).