ActivBiotics Outlines a Clinical Path Forward to Examine if Rifalazil Is Superior to Azithromycin in the Treatment of Chl...( WELLESLEY HILLS Mass. Feb. 19 /- ...),Health

WELLESLEY HILLS, Mass., Feb. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Joseph F. Finn, Jr., CPA, the Assignee for the Benefit of Creditors of ActivBiotics, announced today the design of a clinical trial to investigate whether Chlamydia STD is treated adequately by currently approved antibiotics. Rifalazil, the most potent anti-chlamydial agent that has been administered to people, may provide a better treatment option for Chlamydia STD. The insidious aspect of Chlamydia STD is that infections which are inadequately treated can later result in serious consequences. A new, improved treatment would prevent the long-term detrimental effects of Chlamydia STD, which for women include mucopurulent cervicitis, pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy, and infertility. Chlamydia STD infections have also been associated with increased transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in both men and women.

At the present time, the prevailing medical opinion is that Chlamydia STD is treated adequately by a single 1 gram oral dose of azithromycin. However, in a previous Phase II clinical trial (published in 2007 in the journal Sexually Transmitted Diseases), men experiencing symptoms of nongonococcal urethritis attributed to Chlamydia trachomatis infection had higher cure rates with rifalazil than with azithromycin five weeks after treatment. Although the sample size of the trial was small, these results certainly left room to consider the possibility of an improved therapy with rifalazil for treating all Chlamydia STDs.

The new trial would compare a group of women, all infected with Chlamydia STD, who would be administered a single oral dose of rifalazil with a similar group receiving a single dose of azithromycin. "We can examine if rifalazil is superior to azithromycin in eradicating Chlamydia STD in women by evaluating 55 subjects in each treatment group", said Walter Stamm from the University of Washington, a leading clinician in the area of Chlamydia STD. Indeed, suc
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