Targanta's oritavancin shows preclinical promise

US privately-held biopharmaceutical company Targanta Therapeutics says that the results from two studies of oritavancin, its novel lipoglycopeptide antibiotic, demonstrate its antibacterial efficacy. The findings were presented at the 17th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Munich, Germany.

The firm's researchers found that the drug, when combined with the common wetting agent polysorbate 80, showed increased efficacy against Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecalis, in terms of the lower concentration of the drug that was required to inhibit bacterial growth. The second study, which examined the drug's efficacy against Streptococcus pneumonia in a mouse model, indicated that it was more active in combatting the infection then either daptomycin or ceftriaxone.