Recce Pharmaceuticals (ASX:RCE) said its Recce 327, a topical gel, achieved a statistically significant reduction in bacterial load compared to untreated control groups for two antibiotic-resistant pathogens, according to a Tuesday Australian bourse filing.

The study looked into the efficacy of Recce 327 against Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

The reductions corresponded to around a 2-log, or 99%, and a 3-log, or 99.9%, reduction against Staphylococcus aureus by days 4 and 8, respectively. They also corresponded to around a 3-log, or 99.9%, and 4-log, or 99.99%, reduction against Pseudomonas aeruginosa by days 4 and 8, respectively.

Wounds treated with the topical gel exhibited accelerated contraction for burn wounds in rat infection models. Statistically significant improvements were observed using analysis of variance comparison testing against the untreated control throughout the treatment period.

Its shares rose over 2% in recent trading on Tuesday.