| Add to balance / Manage account | User: | Log out |
| Prospect News home > News index > List of issuers V > Headlines for ViroPharma Inc. > News item |
ViroPharma licenses rights to develop C. difficile for treatment of intestinal disease
By Lisa Kerner
Erie, Pa., Feb. 27 - ViroPharma, Inc. said it has entered into a licensing agreement with Dr. Dale N. Gerding of the Hines VA Hospital for the rights to develop non-toxigenic strains of C. difficile for the treatment and prevention of C. difficile-associated disease (CDAD).
C. difficile is a bacterium that can colonize in the lower gastrointestinal tract, typically after antibiotic therapy, causing inflammation of the colon and diarrhea.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, C. difficile causes 15% to 20% of the approximately 3 million cases of antibiotic-associated diarrhea per year.
ViroPharma plans to focus its efforts on the opportunity to prevent recurrence of CDAD following treatment with Vancocin, according to a company news release.
"We are very excited to be chosen to enter into this agreement with Dr. Gerding to acquire the rights to this very promising early stage therapeutic opportunity, as it fits perfectly with our strategic focus on this dangerous disease," ViroPharma chief scientific officer Dr. Colin Broom said in the release.
"Reducing recurrence of disease is a growing medical need. This novel treatment approach to prevent disease recurrence involves the oral administration of non-toxin producing spores of C. difficile following initial treatment of acute CDAD."
Colonizing the GI tract with non-toxin-producing C. difficile should prevent the "bad" bugs from re-infecting the colon until normal GI flora returns and the patient is no longer susceptible to disease, officials said.
ViroPharma is an Exton, Pa.-based biopharmaceutical company.
© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere.
For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.