Clinical stage cannabinoid company Botanix Pharmaceuticals (ASX:BOT) has announced new data from studies recently conducted involving its cannabidiol antimicrobial platform and a new development program ‘AB 2367’.
The studies were conducted in collaboration with Professor Dena Lyras at Monash University’s Biomedicine Discovery Institute Department of Microbiology.
According to the company, the studies showed AB 2367 has potent activity against human and veterinary hypervirulent strains of Clostridium difficile (“C. difficile”).
C. difficile is a Gram-Positive, spore-forming and toxin-producing bacterium that infects the intestinal tract, causing diarrhoea and in severe cases, life-threatening colitis. It has emerged as a serious worldwide public health threat and is the most commonly acquired hospital infection globally.
Professor of Microbiology at the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute and President Australian Society of Microbiology, Dena Lyra, said, “Often the global threat of C. difficile infection is overlooked. In the United States alone, C. difficile is responsible for nearly 500,000 infections and 30,000 deaths annually - at an estimated US$5.2 billion in health care costs.
"Because of this, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently classified infections with C. difficile among the most serious public health threats that require urgent and aggressive action. These study results are the first steps towards developing a new treatment for this major healthcare problem.”
“We are overwhelmed by the potential this new data presents. Recently we announced the ground-breaking discovery that MRSA superbugs do not develop resistance to cannabidiol, as part of our BTX 1801 program," said Botanix founder and executive director Matt Callahan.
"Now we have shown cannabidiol is also an effective antibiotic against C. difficile, the bacteria that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regards as a global threat requiring urgent and immediate action.”