Approximately 75% of all clinically significant human infections are estimated to be biofilm-related. Prosthetic joint infections are a classical example of difficult to eradicate infections associated with biofilm. Most Prosthetic Joint Infection (PJI) cases are caused by staphylococcal species (~70%) with an increasing number being antibiotic-resistant (MRSA). In the US, two-stage revision is the standard of care for replacement of an infected prosthetic joint, and is associated with substantial costs and prolonged immobility. TRL1068 is a fully human antibody that has been shown in pre-clinical studies to disrupt biofilm. TRL1068 targets a highly conserved epitope on the DNABII family of bacterial DNA binding proteins that includes histone-like (HU) and integration host factor (IHF) proteins of clinically relevant Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The DNABII epitope bound by TRL1068 has no homologs in the human proteome.
TRL1068 is expected to eliminate the pathogen-protecting biofilm in the prosthetic joint and surrounding tissue, thus making these pathogens substantially more susceptible to established antibiotic treatment regimens. This initial study is designed to assess overall safety and pharmacokinetics (PK) of TRL1068. The overall goal of the development program is to demonstrate that TRL1068 can facilitate effectiveness of a single stage joint replacement or preservation of the original infected prosthetic joint in a substantial proportion of patients with PJI.