Benzinga | Oct 26, 2020 07:02AM EDT

ContraFect Initiates Expanded Access to Exebacase for the Treatment of MRSA Bloodstream Infections in COVID-19 Patients

YONKERS, N.Y., Oct. 26, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ContraFect Corporation (NASDAQ:CFRX) a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of direct lytic agents (DLAs), including lysins and amurin peptides, as new medical modalities for the treatment of life-threatening, antibiotic-resistant infections, today announced that it has initiated an expanded access program to provide exebacase for the treatment of persistent bacteremia caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in COVID-19 patients. Exebacase has been granted Breakthrough Therapy designation for the treatment of MRSA bloodstream infections by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Company is providing expanded access to exebacase under a treatment protocol available to clinical sites participating in the ongoing Phase 3 study, which enables physicians to use exebacase to treat severely ill COVID-19 patients with persistent MRSA bacteremia, despite treatment with standard of care antibiotics. These patients who are hospitalized with COVID-19 may now have access to exebacase since they are not eligible to participate in the ongoing Phase 3 study. Based on the results of the completed Phase 2 study, the Company believes that treatment with exebacase in addition to anti-staphylococcal antibiotics has the potential to improve clinical outcomes for many COVID-19 patients who have persistent MRSA bacteremia. More information about the program is available at www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT04597242).



Roger J. Pomerantz, M.D., F.A.C.P., President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman of ContraFect said, "As a company dedicated to defeating serious infectious diseases, it is our responsibility to actively attempt to help severely ill patients with COVID-19. Exebacase has the potential to treat MRSA superinfections in patients infected with COVID-19, a significant cause of severe disease. This enduring crisis, in addition to the upcoming flu season, demands that our potential breakthrough therapy be accessible to all patients who have life-threatening MRSA bacteremia, and we are hopeful that exebacase could have a favorable impact on patient outcomes."

Respiratory viral infections, such as influenza, SARS and MERS, are commonly associated with secondary infections, or superinfections, by opportunistic pathogens. During previous influenza epidemics, including the 1918-19 "Spanish Flu" pandemic, the majority of deaths likely resulted directly from secondary bacterial pneumonia1,2. While there is currently limited data, secondary bacterial infections have been noted in China over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic with up to 50% of patients who died experiencing a secondary infection3,4. This potential role of bacterial superinfections in the clinical outcomes of COVID-19 patients has been recently recognized as an emerging issue in the U.S.5,6. Staph aureus is one of the most common pathogenic causes of secondary bacterial infections in patients suffering from severe respiratory viral infections.

This represents another compassionate use program for exebacase. ContraFect continues to provide early access to exebacase to individual named patients with chronic post-operative prosthetic joint infections (PJIs) under Temporary Authorizations for Use from the French National Agency for Medicines and Health Products Safety obtained by Dr. Tristan Ferry at the H?pital de la Croix Rousse in Lyon, France. Staphylococcal PJIs pose significant treatment challenges due to biofilm formation, which renders conventional antibiotics ineffective and necessitates surgical removal and replacement of the prosthetic joint. There are medicinal therapies approved by FDA for the treatment of PJIs and surgical intervention (e.g. removal and replacement of the infected joint) is the current standard of care. Through this compassionate use program, ContraFect is able to gain an early assessment of the safety of intra-articular administration of exebacase and potential early signs of efficacy of exebacase as a potential therapeutic agent for PJIs.

About Exebacase (CF-301)

Exebacase is a recombinantly-produced lysin (cell wall hydrolase enzyme) with potent bactericidal activity against Staph aureus, a major cause of bloodstream infections (BSIs) also known as bacteremia. In the Company's Phase 2 study of exebacase, a pre-specified analysis of MRSA-infected patients showed that the clinical responder rate at Day 14 in patients treated with exebacase was nearly 43-percentage points higher than in patients treated with standard-of-care (SOC) antibiotics alone (74.1% for patients treated with exebacase compared to 31.3% for patients treated with SOC antibiotics alone (p=0.010)). In addition to the higher rate of clinical response, MRSA-infected patients treated with exebacase showed a 21-percentage point reduction in 30-day all-cause mortality (p=0.056), a four-day lower mean length of hospital stay and meaningful reductions in hospital readmission rates. Exebacase is currently being studied in the Phase 3 DISRUPT (Direct Lysis of Staph aureus Resistant Pathogen Trial) superiority design study of exebacase in patients with Staph aureus bacteremia, including right-sided endocarditis.

Exebacase has the potential to be a first-in-class treatment for Staph aureus bacteremia. Exebacase was licensed from The Rockefeller University and is being developed at ContraFect.

About DISRUPT

The Phase 3 DISRUPT study of exebacase is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study conducted in the U.S. to assess the efficacy and safety of exebacase in approximately 350 patients with complicated Staph aureus bacteremia, including right-sided endocarditis. Patients enrolled in the Phase 3 study are randomized 2:1 to receive either exebacase or placebo, with all patients receiving SOC antibiotics. The primary efficacy endpoint of the study is clinical response at day 14 in patients with MRSA bacteremia, including right-sided endocarditis. Secondary endpoints include clinical response at day 14 in the all Staph aureus patients (MRSA and methicillin-sensitive Staph aureus (MSSA)), 30-day all-cause mortality in MRSA patients, and clinical response at later timepoints. The company plans to conduct an interim futility analysis following the enrollment of approximately 60% of the study population.