- Cubist Pharma $CBST announced phase 2 results for the C. difficile associated diarrhea (CDAD) antibiotic candidate CB 183,315. Click here for the press release.
- See below for my comments and a comparison of this data to that achieved by Optimer Pharma $OPTR recently-approved drug Dificid (fidaxomicin) - click here for complete OPTR research page.
- See the above tabel for a comparison of the CBST drug to the OPTR drug's late-stage trials. CBST has a weird non dose response going on, with the low dose achieving a better initial clinical cure rate, but the higher dose providing more protection against recurrence. Maybe a statistical artifact or maybe there is some predicted reason for this that one of our infectious disease professionals can provide insight to us on.
- I have not been following the C. difficile space for very long, but these data seem pretty lackluster when held up against the recently approved Dificid (fidaxomicin) from OPTR.
- Given the factors listed below, I predict that CBST will kill the program and eventually decide to license more rights to Dificid or perhaps even acquire OPTR. Perhaps I should add this to the BiotechDueDiligence crystal ball page (though I don't think that would be a 2011 event...).
2) the existing copromotion agreement between OPTR and CBST for Dificid in the US
3) Cubist's unwillingness to commit to advancing the drug to phase 3 in this press release (they said they were on track to decide by year end 2011)