Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd, which showcased its new anti-bacterial molecule at the 42nd annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) at San Diego, California, USA, from September 27-30, 2002 has claimed that the new molecule has been well received.

It may be recalled after the major debacle of its novel insulin sensitiser Ragaglitazar (DRF 2725), whose clinical trials got suspended after tumours were found in test animals, this is the first molecule presented before the world by the company. The company has now decided to outlicense its new molecules only after completing toxicity studies in animals.

According to the company, DRF 8417, currently in preclinical development, is a novel antibacterial molecule belonging to the chemical class of oxazolidinones. In preclinical studies, the molecule's in vitro and in vivo activity was observed to be several folds better than linezolid. (Linezolid, an oxazolidinone launched in the year 2000, is the first from a completely new class of antibiotics to reach the market in over three decades.) DRF 8417 was derived from systematic structure activity relationship (SAR) studies.

DRF 8417 shows good activity against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria that cause community acquired pneumonia (CAP). The clinical management of bacteria causing CAP has, in recent times, become more challenging due to drug resistance.

Dr. Reddy's presented 10 posters on its anti-infective discovery program of which six showcased DRF 8417.

The ICAAC annual conference is the world's premier meeting on infectious diseases and antimicrobial agents and is organized by the American Society for Microbiology. Over 12,000 scientists from around the world participate in ICAAC to exchange information and foster global solutions to the challenges of HIV/AIDS, anthrax, smallpox, and other topics including bio-terrorism preparedness, recognition, detections, and medical treatments.