High-dose VE303 prevents recurrent clostridioides difficile infection

For adults with laboratory-confirmed Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) at high risk for recurrence, high-dose VE303, a defined bacterial consortium of eight strains of commensal Clostridia, prevents recurrent CDI, according to a study published online April 15 in the Journal of the American Medical Association to coincide with the 33rd European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases, held from April 15 to 18 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Thomas Louie, M.D., from the University of Calgary and Foothills Medical Centre in Canada, and colleagues examined the efficacy of VE303 in adults at high risk for CDI recurrence in a phase 2 randomized double-blind trial involving 79 participants aged 18 years and older. Participants, who were diagnosed with laboratory-confirmed CDI with one or more prior episodes in the last six months and those with primary CDI at high risk for recurrence, were randomly assigned to high-dose VE303, low-dose VE303, or placebo capsules (30, 27, and 22 participants, respectively), taken orally once daily for 14 days.

The researchers found that for high-dose VE303, low-dose VE303, and placebo, CDI recurrence rates were 13.8, 37.0, and 45.5 percent, respectively, through week 8.

"To our knowledge, this is the first double-blind, placebo-controlled study to demonstrate efficacy with a defined bacterial consortium in any therapeutic indication," the authors write.

Several authors disclosed financial ties to biopharmaceutical companies, including Vedanta Biosciences, which developed VE303.

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