TSRX - took position
Based on what I posted in the prior post, I added TSRX to my biofolio today. Many thanks to rkrw for pointing out one big caveat that I was not aware of in that Zyvox is due to go generic in 2013. This is about the time torezolid phosphate would be ready for commercialization if Phase 3 trials are successful. Notwithstanding that big caveat, I think TSRX has a chance to differentiate torezolid phosphate enough from a potential generic Zyvox, because TSRX believes torezolid phosphate may act much quicker than Zyvox and have a much shorter duration of treatment. Note that the primary endpoint for the Phase 3 trials for torezolid phosphate is cessation of spread of infected lesions and absence of fever at 48 to 72 hours. Also, TSRX is testing 6 days of 200mg QD torezolid phosphate treatment vs. 10 days of 600mg BID Zyvox treatment. So, even if the drug is only able to show non-inferiority in terms of overall cure rate at end of treatment (and I think there's a hope that superiority will be shown although that is always difficult), there's still the chance to show that torezolid phosphate works much quicker than Zyvox and saves 4 days of treatment. I assume that, if proved in Phase 3, those would be two big advantages that could offset the concerns of a generic Zyvox.
Separately, TSRX believes that torezolid phosphate may be active against Zyvox-resistant MRSA strains. So, that is another angle in which TSRX may be able to differentiate torezolid phosphate from a generic Zyvox.
