Positive data from Motif Bio’s (MTFB:AIM) Phase III trial in the second quarter of 2017 could result in US and European approval for its antibiotic drug iclaprim and boost the shares.

Motif Bio develops novel antibiotics to tackle life-threatening infections caused by multi-drug resistant bacteria.

Iclaprim is an antibiotic that is active against bacteria in bugs resistant to other antibiotics. The drug kills bacteria instead of preventing growth like other treatments.

Northland analyst Vadim Alexandre says: ‘In the wake of a major antibiotic resistance crisis, the treatment’s sales could run into billions of US dollars a year.’

In April 2015, Motif Bio acquired Nuprim, which owned exclusive worldwide rights to iclaprim. The antibiotic was developed by Arpida which provided data from two previous Phase III trials.

These trials failed because Arpida didn’t use a consistent comparable to benchmark against its drug. The FDA also changed the required hurdle during the trials and the drug fell short of achieving the ‘new’ success criteria.

Motif’s trials hope to address previous shortcomings and also take into account feedback from the FDA.

Motif Bio agreed to use a higher dose to gain regulatory approval as iclaprim can be used where there is an underlying condition such as diabetes.

While there are always risks from investing in pharma stocks, Motif Bio's antibiotic drug could be a big step in tackling the growing issue of antibiotic resistance.  Buy at 30.3p (LMJ)

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