The Recce Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX: RCE) share price traded nearly 15% higher this morning after the company announced positive oral data.
What new data has Recce released?
Recce Pharmaceuticals released an announcement earlier today which highlighted positive oral data for the company's new antibiotic RECCE 435. The data relates to an independent efficacy study that assessed the oral dose-dependent efficacy of RECCE 435 in an animal model. According to the announcement, the data showed positive efficacy against Helicobacter plylori (H. pylori) in rats treated with RECCE 435.
H. pylori is a Gram-negative and antibiotic-resistant bacteria that infects the lining of the stomach and upper intestine. The bacteria was recently added by the United States Food and Drug Administration as a pathogen that has the potential to pose a threat to public health and has an unmet medical need.
The study involved treating 3 groups with varying doses of RECCE 435, with dose-dependent efficacy reported at all doses which resulted in significant reduction in bacterial load. The company's management noted that the new data is encouraging and endorses further study into synthetic antibiotics in the treatment of deadly infections. As a result, Recce Pharmaceuticals is in discussion with world leading H. pylori experts to assess a potential commercial pathway.
What does Recce do?
Recce Pharmaceuticals is an Australian based biopharmaceutical company that aims at developing and commercialising new classes of synthetic anti-infectives to treat antibiotic resistant superbugs and emerging viral pathogens. The company's antibiotics are unique as their potency does not diminish with repeated use, which is a failure of existing antibiotics used to treat resistant superbugs.
RECCE 327 is the company's lead candidate which has been developed for the treatment of blood infections and sepsis that results from E.coli and S. aureus bacteria. In addition to the aforementioned RECCE 435, RECCE 529 is another candidate from Recce Pharamceuticals that is designed as an antiviral compound.
Earlier last month, Reece Pharmaceuticals announced that the company had entered an agreement with US-based precision medicine company, Path BioAnalytics, for the study of its RECCE 327 and RECCE 529 antibiotics against SARS-CoV-2, which is the strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19. In addition, the company noted that its candidate RECCE 327 has been accepted into the SARS-CoV-2 screening program between the CSIRO and Doherty Institute.
The Recce share price
Following its initial surge, the Recce share price has been sold off and is currently trading at $1.255 which is a 6.4% increase for the day. This came after the share price hit an intra-day high of $1.355 immediately following the announcement. The Recce share price is 269% up in year-to-date trading.