The Recce Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX: RCE) share price has been a strong performer on Thursday.
In afternoon trade, the biotechnology company's shares are up 8.5% to $1.13.
Why is the Recce share price surging higher?
Investors have been bidding the Recce share price higher today following the release of a promising update.
According to the release, the company has announced positive results from a pre-clinical study investigating the Mechanism of Action (MoA) of its lead compound RECCE 327 (R327).
The company notes that R327 is a broad-spectrum synthetic anti-infective that has the potential to address the urgent global health threat posed by antibiotic resistant superbugs and emerging viral pathogens.
Recce advised that the study was performed by independent, world leaders in bacterial MOA analysis and antibiotic profiling.
What were the results?
The release explains that R327's MoA was "unlike that of any antibiotic seen before" with multiple mechanisms identified in the study. These will be presented at an upcoming World Microbe Forum in June.
In addition, the study showed that R327 was rapidly and irreversibly bactericidal against Gram-negative Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria, in both active and stationary phase cells. Positively, it outperformed the best in class commercial antibiotics.
Management notes that current antibiotics rarely retain bactericidal activities against non-dividing bacterial cells. However, R327 shows significant activity against both slow-growing bacteria and actively dividing cells, thereby enabling continuous treatment of infections throughout the bacterial cell life cycle.
Recce's Executive Director & Chief Scientific Officer, Michele Dilizia, commented: "The data from this study further supports the potential of RECCE 327 to provide a novel and universal way to treat harmful infections. We are excited about these highly encouraging results as they provide important insights regarding how RECCE 327 is able to work repeatedly against the same strain of bacteria and their superbug forms."
