Conference Reports
48th Annual ICAAC/IDSA 46th Annual Meeting
Washington, DC, the US, October 25-28 2008
Just days before the US Presidential election, Washington, DC, played host to this year's prestigious joint 48th Annual ICAAC/IDSA 46th Annual Meeting. The conference consisted of interactive symposia, meet-theexpert/ professor sessions, slide-sessions, mini-lectures and over 2500 posters, outlining the understanding, diagnosis and management of infectious diseases in areas ranging from bioterrorism and bacteria to fungal infections and virology. Due to the joint ICAAC/IDSA nature of this meeting, there was a vast amount of information presented across a wide range of infectious diseases.
For the 16th year running, BioPartnering Europe chose London
as a prime location to create opportunities for both large
pharma and smaller companies alike to network and allow the
fruits of partnership to flourish. In the style of speed-dating,
company representatives were given just fifteen minutes to
summarise their best traits and outline their activities to highlight
why attendees should partner with them. Smaller companies
featured more strongly, presenting a plethora of novel
platforms and partnering opportunities to interest even the
most hardened businessmen!
On the antibacterial side of things, Pfizer's sulopenem, an iv penem antibiotic Phase I candidate, showed promising activity against a variety of Gram-positive bacterial strains. Additionally, the Japanese company Meiji Seika reported on its beta-lactam antibiotic and cell wall synthesis inhibitor, ME-1036. This injectable carbapenem significantly decreased Staphylococcus aureus densities in infective endocarditis-induced rats, when used in combination with cilastatin. It is currently undergoing Phase I trials in the US.
In the field of virology, FV-100, Inhibitex' nucleoside analogue shingles treatment, was shown to display dose-dependent pharmacokinetics in a Phase I trial in 48 healthy volunteers. Mild and resolved adverse events were seen in 31 subjects and Phase II trials are now expected in the first quarter of 2009.
Gilead reported results from a trial with its HIV prophylaxis candidate, tenofovir, to assess its potential effect on insulin resistance, a known problem with some antiretrovirals. In the trial in 16 subjects the reverse transcriptase inhibitor produced no significant change in insulin sensitivity, though it did decrease total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein. Tenofovir is currently in a Phase II trial in 980 South African women.
Another interesting agent for the treatment of HIV is Bristol-Myers Squibb's Reyataz (atazanavir sulfate), which is commonly prescribed for HIV treatment in combination with the well-known protease inhibitor ritonavir. Various doses were tested in 18 healthy volunteers to assess the possibility of a ritonavir-sparing regimen and it was revealed that a 300mg bid dose resulted in pharmacokinetics most similar to the combination regimen. Although it was well tolerated, QRS widening was greater than reported with the combination treatment. Long-term results from the Phase III CASTLE trial were recently reported, with 96 week suppression rates being greater in patients receiving boosted atazanavir than those on lopinavir.
Overall, the conference successfully completed its aim of educating physicians, researchers and media alike on current trends in treating infectious diseases, and the joining together of two such large and notable meetings proved an undoubted success.
Paul D'Souza
Pharmaprojects Analyst
