Advancis (AVNC) -- one of the dogs of the "Wave II" crop of recent IPOs -- is up 21% on publication of a study validating its platform technology:
>>GERMANTOWN, Md., Dec. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Advancis Pharmaceutical Corporation (Nasdaq: AVNC - News), a pharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing novel anti-infective products, today announced that researchers have published findings regarding the company's pulsatile dosing of antimicrobials in the December issue of the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.
The study, titled "Pulsatile Delivery of Amoxicillin Against Streptococcus Pneumoniae," was conducted by Dr. Raymond Cha and Dr. Michael Rybak of the Anti-Infective Research Laboratory at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Results of the published study indicate that pulsatile dosing, as proposed by Advancis, may represent a unique and more potent strategy for dosing beta-lactam antimicrobials.
Streptococcus pneumoniae are the bacteria responsible for causing both widespread infection and the deaths that result from upper respiratory tract infections and community-acquired pneumonia. Data from the Centers for Disease Control demonstrate that penicillin resistance for S. pneumoniae is as high as 40 percent in the United States. The authors note that despite this, beta-lactam antibiotics remain one of the most prescribed oral agents for these infections, and methods to improve their effectiveness and reduce resistance are imperative.
The study noted pulsatile regimens had significantly greater bacterial killing effects than traditional two- or three-times daily dosing against an intermediate-resistant strain of S. pneumoniae. The study also found that against a susceptible strain of S. pneumoniae, both once-daily pulsatile dosing and traditional dosing of amoxicillin exhibited effective bacterial killing. In addition, experiments in which significantly lower doses of amoxicillin were studied indicated that as little as 0.15 mg/L of amoxicillin delivered in a pulsatile manner had the equivalent bactericidal effect of a dose of 30 mg/L delivered in traditional divided doses.
"Drs. Cha and Rybak's study is noteworthy because it offers additional evidence of enhanced activity through the pulsatile dosing of antibiotics," said Edward M. Rudnic, Ph.D., chairman, president and CEO of Advancis. "This study, along with other data presented at recent scientific conferences, underscores the potential of PULSYS antibiotics to deliver enhanced therapeutic effects combined with the convenience of once-daily administration. We look forward to further validation of our PULSYS technology through the results of our Amoxicillin PULSYS Phase III clinical trial, which we expect in the first half of 2005."
The pulsatile dosing study is published in the December 2004 issue of Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (JAC). Among the foremost international journals in antimicrobial research, JAC is published monthly by Oxford University Press and features original articles on the laboratory aspects and clinical use of antimicrobials including antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, and antiprotozoal agents.
ABOUT ADVANCIS PHARMACEUTICAL:
Advancis Pharmaceutical Corporation (Nasdaq: AVNC - News) is a pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of pulsatile drug products that fulfill substantial unmet medical needs in the treatment of infectious disease. The Company is developing a broad portfolio of anti- infective drugs based on its novel biological finding that bacteria exposed to antibiotics in frontloaded staccato bursts, or "pulses," are killed more efficiently and effectively than those under standard treatment regimens. Based on this finding, Advancis has developed a proprietary, once-a-day pulsatile delivery technology called PULSYS(TM). By examining the resistance patterns of bacteria and applying its delivery technologies, Advancis has the potential to redefine infectious disease therapy and significantly improve drug efficacy, shorten length of therapy, and reduce drug resistance versus currently available antibacterial products. For more on Advancis, please visit advancispharm.com. <<
snip
Cheers, Tuck |
