RAVE goodbye and move on

After four years of sluggish enrollment in its RAVE Phase III trial of Ramoplanin to prevent vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), Oscient Pharmaceuticals Inc. has decided to move on to more fertile fields. It will focus instead on developing the compound to treat Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea (CDAD), as well as on the launch of its Factive gemifloxacin tablets this fall.

The RAVE (Ramoplanin Against VRE) trial began in June 2000 and had enrolled two-thirds of a planned 950 neutropenic cancer patients at risk for bloodstream infections caused by VRE. According to President and CEO Steven Rauscher, it would have taken a couple more years to complete. ...