Theravance Biopharma Drug Vibativ Overcomes Serious Infections. See Also: Juno Therapeutics in China

Dealing With Bacterial Resistance To Antibiotics   

In the NEWS

THERAVANCE BIOPHARMA

At the 26th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID), Theravance Biopharma (TBPH) demonstrated that its drug Vibativ® (televancin) possesses a potent in vitro activity against broad range of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) clinical isolates. These isolates included Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). The antibiotic activity for VIBATIV was seen in 100% of the evaluated S. aureus clinical isolates regardless of their type or resistance profile.

The study findings have also demonstrated greater in vitro activity for VIBATIV against difficult-to-treat S. aureus pathogens as compared to other well-known antibiotics such as vancomycin and linezolid.

Prohost Observations

Theravance Biopharma never stopped generating data that highlight the superiority of Vibativ® in dealing with difficult-to-treat Gram-positive bacteria versus other antibiotics. The supportive data come from trials on serious infection types, including S. aureusclinical isolates regardless of classification or resistance phenotype and subset.

Theravance Biopharma discovered Vibativ® in house as a result of a research program dedicated to finding new antibiotics for serious Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and other Gram-positive bacteria, including MRSA and MSSA.

Vibativ works by inhibiting bacterial cell wall synthesis and disrupts bacterial cell membrane function. The drug is approved in the U.S. for adult patients with hospital-acquired and ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia caused by susceptible isolates of S. aureus when alternative treatments are not suitable. In addition, Vibativ is approved in the U.S. for the treatment of adult patients for complicated skin & skin structure infections (cSSSI) caused by S. aureus, both methicillin-susceptible (MSSA) and methicillin-resistant (MRSA) strains.

The product is also approved and marketed in many countries around the world. Currently, Theravance Biopharma has partners to take care of the product’s marketing in Europe, Canada, Middle East, North Africa, Israel, Russia, China and India.This is good news for THRX.

JUNO THERAPEUTICS

Expanding Its Cancer Immunotherapy Into China

Juno Therapeutics’ (JUNO) recent reporting include the formation of a Chinese company based in Shanghai called JW Biotechnology established with the Chinese WuXi App Tec contract service firm.

The mission is building a novel cell-based immunotherapy for patients with hematologic and solid-organ cancers. The firm will be built around Juno’s chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) and T cell receptor (TCR) technologies together with WuXi AppTec’s R&D and manufacturing platform capability.

Hans Bishop, chief executive officer of Juno said the extremely high cancer rates in China make it imperative that Juno finds an effective structure capable of reaching these patients. According to the American Cancer Society, 4.3 million new diagnoses of cancer have been made in China in 2015, along with about 2.8 million cancer-related deaths. The American cancer Society said that lung, stomach, liver, esophagus, and colorectual cancers contribute to three-quarters of all cancer deaths.

Juno’s efforts to make its CAR-T cell and T cell receptor (TCR) immunotherapy successful remain consistent. Its goal is to make its immunotherapy approaches reach anywhere around the globe where patients’ lives are threatened with nasty cancers.

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