Novel Non-antibiotic Anti-infective Successfully Treats Impetigo Patients Including 100% Infected with MRSA

Emeryville, CA (I-Newswire) October 25, 2010 - Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is a growing problem in hospitals worldwide. Now, NovaBay Pharmaceuticals, Inc., based in Emeryville, CA, is innovating a new class of drugs, known as Aganocide® compounds, that mimic the body’s natural defense against infection. The Aganocides could potentially equal or exceed the utility of antibiotics and address the problem of antibiotic resistance via their novel mechanism.

Fresh evidence of the effectiveness of Aganocides was on display in two poster presentations made at the 48th Annual Meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), held October 21-24 in Vancouver, Canada.

The first poster was titled “A Pilot Study to Evaluate the Safety and Efficacy of NVC-422 Topical Gel in Impetigo, Including MRSA”. A research team led by Ken Krantz MD, PhD of NovaBay focused on impetigo, a highly contagious skin infection that affects mostly children and is caused by S. aureus, including the increasingly common antibiotic-resistant MRSA and S. pyogenes. It is currently treated with antibiotic ointments to which bacteria may develop resistance.

The team treated a total of 129 children with impetigo between the ages of 2 and 12 with various doses of a topical formulation of the Aganocide compound NVC-422. Treatment was administered three times daily for seven days. Clinical and bacteriological response rates for the three concentrations of drug applied ranged from 84% to 95% at end of treatment and at follow up. Notably the response rate for MRSA infections was 100%, whether MRSA was the sole organism or in a mixed infection. The treatment was well tolerated. Adverse events were mild to moderate in severity and were predominantly local reactions at the application site. All adverse events were resolved after the end of treatment. The team concluded that NVC-422 has the potential to be a promising non-antibiotic, antimicrobial drug for the treatment of impetigo.

The second poster was titled “In Vitro Evaluation of the Antifungal Activity of NVC-422 (N,N-dichloro-2,2-dimethyltaurine) Using a Novel Cadaver Nail Model”. A research team led by Eric Memarzadeh PhD of NovaBay focused on onychomycosis, the most commonly diagnosed nail disorder. Currently, topical treatment of the infection is limited by the inability of drugs to penetrate the human nail.

The researchers developed a novel in vitro infected human nail model and used it to evaluate the ability of the Aganocide NVC-422 to penetrate and kill nail filamentous fungi. They infected the underside of cadaver nails with two Trichophyton species; T. mentagrophytes and T. rubrum. NVC-422 was then applied to the upper side of the infected nails and incubated for a further week. The authors demonstrated that the two novel formulations tested showed good penetration and eradication of T. rubrum and T. mentagrophytes. The team concluded that further evaluation of the Aganocides for the treatment of onychomycosis is warranted.

For more information, visit www.novabaypharma.com

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