NTCD
According to published literature, approximately 20 to 30 percent of patients suffering from Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) will have at least one episode of relapse of disease. The goal of ViroPharma’s novel NTCD program (non-toxigenic C. difficile) is to prevent such recurrence of disease.
Over the past several years, CDI has increased in severity and incidence. As such, the number of recurrent infections has also increased. According to a recent survey, 55 percent of participating US hospitals reported an increase in the number of treatment relapses over a recent 12 month period (Gelone et al. 2006). Because of this dramatic increase, finding new alternatives to prevent recurrent CDI remains an important medical goal.
ViroPharma acquired NTCD in February 2006 from Dale Gerding, of the Hines VA. The concept behind this novel treatment approach aims to prevent disease recurrence involves the oral administration of non-toxin producing spores of C. difficile following initial treatment of acute CDI. The underlying concept is to first treat the disease with an effective product like Vancocin (PI) and eradicate the dangerous toxin-producing C. difficile which causes severe CDI. The treated patient could potentially then be dosed with oral NTCD to re-colonize the GI tract and prevent the ‘bad’ bugs from re-infecting the colon until normal GI flora returns and the patient is no longer susceptible to disease.
This program is currently in preclinical development.