New Haven-based pharma company Melinta Therapeutics Inc. has named board member John H. Johnson as interim CEO after former CEO Dan Wechsler decided to step down after less than a year on the job.
“The Board and Mr. Wechsler mutually agreed that now is the right time to transition leadership of the Company,” Melinta said in a statement.
“[Johnson] is an accomplished biopharmaceutical industry leader with more than 20 years of direct expertise in the antibiotics space, and we are pleased that he is leading Melinta during this pivotal time,” Board Chairman Kevin Ferro said.
“Because of the company’s accomplishments over the past month, this was a surprise for those outside the company,” a contributor on analysis site Seekingalpha.com remarked.
Melinta, a commercial-stage company that develops new antibiotics, announced earlier this month that it would partner with Italian firm Menarini Group to commercialize three of its drugs across the world, a deal potentially worth up to $265 million.
One of those drugs, Vabomere, was found effective against complicated urinary tract infections in a Phase III clinical trial, the company announced on Oct. 2. “Vabomere was associated with increased clinical cure, and decreased mortality compared to ‘best available therapy,’” said Melinta in a statement.
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Melinta Therapeutics announced more good news on Monday, highlighting positive results in Phase III clinical trials of its antibiotic Baxdela in adults with community-acquired bacterial pneumonia (CABP).
“These are highly encouraging results that demonstrate the important role we believe Baxdela can play in treating adult patients with CABP,” said John Johnson, Interim CEO and Director of Melinta. “We anticipate filing a supplemental new drug application for Baxdela for the treatment of CABP with the FDA in the first half of next year. If approved, it would represent an important addition to Baxdela’s label and expand upon its position as a safe and effective treatment option for patients with ABSSSI [acute bacterial skin and skin structure infection] in both the hospital and community settings.”
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Guilford-based Bioasis Technologies Inc. announced Monday that it had entered into a licensing agreement with a subsidiary of Ireland’s Prothena Corp. for its xB3 platform technology.
Bioasis’ xB3 allows delivery of medications across the blood-brain barrier for ailments including brain cancers and neurodegenerative diseases. The technology is based on a human transport protein found circulating at low levels in the blood that can shuttle molecules across the blood-brain barrier and reach targets within the brain.
Located at 14 Water St. in Guilford, Bioasis is a pre-clinical, research-stage biopharmaceutical company. In exchange for a $1 million upfront payment, Prothena gets a worldwide, exclusive license to use Bioasis’ xB3 platform with an undisclosed neurodegenerative disease target as well as the option for three additional neuroscience targets.
Bioasis may receive up to an additional $33 million in options exercise, regulatory and commercial milestone payments, plus additional royalties on net sales from the licensed products, according to a company statement.
“Progress toward novel treatments for neurological disorders has been hampered by the limited ability of molecules to cross the blood-brain barrier, an area of significant unmet medical need,” said Bioasis CEO Mark Day. “Part of our strategy is to commercialize our xB3 platform and we are excited to work with Prothena, a recognized global leader in the research and development of potential therapies for use in treating neurodegenerative disorders.”
