Destiny Pharma PLC on Tuesday said it had started a safety study to enable its XF-73 treatment to be labelled as an Investigational New Drug.

Brighton, England-based Destiny is a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on the development of medicines to prevent life-threatening infections.

The US Food & Drug Administration’s Investigational New Drug programme is the process through which permission is granted for a treatment to begin human clinical trials.

Destiny is developing a Dermal formulation, XF-73, for the prevention of infections from open wounds and broken skin, including diabetic foot ulcers. The company said up to 25% of US diabetic patients may suffer from diabetic foot ulcers in their lifetime, and around 13% have active ulcers.

Destiny said the XF-73 Dermal product is planned to kill all relevant bacteria quickly to aid healing and prevent antimicrobial resistance.

The study is the second of two planned preclinical safety studies of the XF-73 Dermal formulation and will use preclinical services for interventional agent assessment by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the US National Institutes of Health.

Chief Executive Neil Clark said: ‘The start of this second preclinical study means that this programme is well-placed to deliver a second clinical candidate in 2023 from our XF platform following the excellent Phase 2 clinical results generated for the XF-73 Nasal gel for the prevention of post-surgical infections caused by Staphylococcal aureus.’

Destiny shares were down 1.4% to 34.51 pence on Tuesday afternoon in London.

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