The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority recently awarded Malvern-based Venatorx Pharmaceuticals a contract to support the development of its oral ceftibuten-ledaborbactam etzadroxil, a treatment for complicated urinary tract infection (cUTI).
Under the contract, the authority will provide up to $20.3 million with options to provide up to a total of $167 million over six years. The agency and the company will share the costs of studies needed to bring the drug to market. Venatorx will lead all regulatory activities necessary to seek U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval.
“This contract supports Venatorx’s mission to address the devastating impact on patient lives from the growing number of bacterial infections in the U.S. and the urgent need for oral antibiotics to combat drug-resistant gram-negative pathogens,” Dr. Christopher J. Burns, Venatorx president and CEO, said. “Currently, there are no approved oral antibiotics that are effective in the treatment of drug-resistant gram-negative bacterial infections to help address increasing drug-resistant bacterial infections globally.”
Complicated UTIs ascending from the bladder and are one of the most common bacterial infections in hospital and community settings. In the United States, there are more than 2.8 million cUTI patients annually.