Melinta Therapeutics has gone to market with its MRSA antibiotic Baxdela, a drug the New Haven biopharmaceutical company has been developing for more than a decade.
Melinta CEO Dan Wechsler announced the U.S. launch of the drug on Monday, calling it “a significant milestone for Melinta – one that comes on the heels of a very successful year.”
Baxdela, whose generic name is delafloxacin, treats serious skin infections caused by MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and other pathogens, which affect roughly 14 million people in the U.S. each year. It is available in both oral and IV form.
“We believe that Baxdela will be an important treatment option for providers treating serious skin infections in both the hospital and community settings,” Mike McGuire, Melinta’s senior vice president, commercial, said in a statement.
Monday’s milestone is the latest in a flurry of activity for the company, founded in the Elm City in 2000 as Rib-X Pharmaceuticals.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the antibiotic last June, capping a process that began when Melinta acquired the license to delafloxacin in 2006.
Although Baxdela is the first commercial drug developed by Melinta, the company recently acquired three existing antibiotics – Vabomere, Orbactiv and Minocin— from New Jersey-based The Medicines Company.
All three are already commercially available and, combined with Baxdela, have a peak sales potential exceeding $1 billion, the company said when it closed the deal valued at $270 million earlier this month.
The acquisition followed the company’s merger in November with publicly-traded North Carolina antibiotics developer Cempra, Inc.
Natalie Missakian can be reached at news@newhavenbiz.com
