Acurx Presents Superior Antibiotic Candidate Ibezapolstat at C. difficile Symposium
News related to:Acurx Pharmaceuticals, Inc · 2 min read
Acurx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a late-stage biopharmaceutical company developing new antibiotics for difficult-to-treat bacterial infections, announced the presentation of a scientific poster at the 9th International C. difficile Symposium (ICDS) held in Bled, Slovenia, from September 8-10, 2026. The poster highlighted the superior in vitro bactericidal activity of ibezapolstat, Acurx’s lead antibiotic candidate, compared to vancomycin and fidaxomicin, the current standards of care, in treating Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) co-cultures.
The study, conducted at the University of Houston, demonstrated that Enterococcus creates a protective microenvironment that impairs the killing of C. difficile by standard antibiotic regimens. Notably, ibezapolstat maintained the highest residual anti-C. difficile performance, achieving a 5.51-log reduction, significantly outperforming vancomycin. In contrast, vancomycin remained inactive in the presence of VRE, while ibezapolstat and fidaxomicin maintained robust anti-VRE killing.
Dr. Eugenie Bassères, a research scientist from the University of Houston College of Pharmacy, presented the findings. Dr.
Robert J. DeLuccia, Executive Chairman of Acurx, expressed optimism about the potential of ibezapolstat.
The poster presented at the ICDS is available on Acurx's website at www.acurxpharma.com. Acurx has previously received FDA QIDP and Fast-Track Designation for ibezapolstat and has received SME designation by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
Acurx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., has been advancing its clinical trial program for ibezapolstat, with the currently planned IBZ-ASPIRE trial designed to evaluate the clinical efficacy of the drug in treating Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI). The trial is of non-inferiority design, with the primary efficacy analysis in the Modified Intent-To-Treat (mITT) population, involving approximately 550 subjects randomized in a 1:1 ratio to either ibezapolstat or standard-of-care vancomycin.
The company has also initiated a new clinical trial, IBZ-PATHFINDER, to gain experience with ibezapolstat in patients with multiply recurrent C. difficile infection (rCDI). This open-label pilot trial involves patients with at least three episodes of CDI within the past 12 months.
According to the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and the Society of Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), Clostridioides difficile infection remains a significant medical problem, with recent estimates suggesting approximately 500,000 infections annually in the U.S. and 30,000 associated deaths. The recurrence rate for the antibiotics currently used to treat CDI is between 20% and 40%, highlighting the need for new antibiotics to prevent recurrence.
Ibezapolstat is a novel, orally administered antibiotic being developed as a Gram-Positive Selective Spectrum (GPSS®) antibacterial. It is the first of a new class of DNA polymerase IIIC inhibitors under development by Acurx. The company has been designated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a Qualified Infectious Disease Product (QIDP) for the treatment of C. difficile infection and has received Fast Track designation for the same indication.