Targanta presents more oritavancin data at ICAAC

US privately-held biopharmaceutical company Targanta Therapeutics presented key findings from two Phase III clinical studies, in which its novel semi-synthetic lipoglycopeptide antibiotic drug candidate, oritavancin, met its primary endpoints, at the combined annual meetings of the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in Washington DC, USA.

The randomized, double-blind, multicenter trials were designed to test whether three to seven days of oritavancin was non-inferior to 10 to 14 days of vancomycin/cephalexin in the treatment of gram-positive complicated skin and soft tissue infections, including those caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Inclusion criteria allowed patients with diabetes, renal or hepatic insufficiency, and HIV/AIDS to be enrolled. In these studies, oritavancin demonstrated comparable efficacy and a favorable safety profile. Adverse events were generally mild-to-moderate in nature with nausea, headache and pruritis being the most common. The Targanta drug was also associated with fewer histamine-like infusion reactions than vancomycin.