YONKERS, N.Y., Jan. 13, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ContraFect Corporation (CFRX), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of direct lytic agents (DLAs), including lysins and amurin peptides, as new medical modalities for the treatment of life-threatening, antibiotic-resistant infections, today announced that it has extended early access to exebacase to individual named patients with chronic post-operative prosthetic joint infections (PJIs) under Temporary Authorizations for Use (ATUs) from the French National Agency for Medicines and Health Products Safety (ANSM) in collaboration with Dr. Tristan Ferry at the Hôpital de la Croix Rousse in Lyon, France.
Four patients with longstanding, treatment-refractory PJIs have been treated with direct administration (i.e. intra-articular) of exebacase to the affected joint under ATUs. Based on promising clinical signals in these exebacase-treated patients, temporary authorization for use of exebacase has now been extended to patients with Staphylococcal PJI occurring early in the postoperative period, to potentially avoid significant loss of function.
“Staphylococcal PJIs pose significant treatment challenges due to biofilm formation which renders conventional antibiotics ineffective and necessitates surgical removal and replacement of the joint. Exebacase has the demonstrated potent ability to eradicate Staphylococcal biofilms in vitro and in animal models, and thus may have potential as a therapeutic agent administered directly to the joint to clear the infection and possibly reduce the need for surgical intervention,” said Cara Cassino, MD, Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President of Research and Development of ContraFect. “This would be a significant benefit to patients world-wide, as there are currently no approved medical treatments for PJIs, and surgical reimplantation of a new prosthetic joint can be associated with substantial disability and loss of function.”
About ContraFect:
ContraFect is a biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing differentiated biologic therapies for life-threatening, drug-resistant infectious diseases, particularly those treated in hospital settings. An estimated 700,000 deaths worldwide each year are attributed to antimicrobial-resistant infections. We intend to address life threatening infections using our therapeutic product candidates from our platform of DLAs, which include lysins and amurin peptides. Lysins are a new class of DLAs which are recombinantly produced antimicrobial proteins with a novel mechanism of action associated with the rapid killing of target bacteria, eradication of biofilms and synergy with conventional antibiotics. Amurin peptides are a new class of DLAs, which exhibit broad-spectrum activity against a wide range of antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative pathogens, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa), Acinetobacter baumannii, and Enterobacter species. We believe that the properties of our lysins and amurin peptides will make them suitable for targeting antibiotic-resistant organisms, such as methicillin-resistant Staph aureus (MRSA) and P. aeruginosa, which can cause serious infections such as bacteremia, pneumonia and osteomyelitis. We have completed a Phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of Staph aureus bacteremia, including endocarditis, with our lead lysin candidate, exebacase, which is the first lysin to enter clinical studies in the U.S.
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