Amidst a challenging R&D environment, Atlanta-based Biota Pharmaceuticals has dumped its preclinical antibiotics program, saying that it will continue to seek out licensing agreements and other deals to advance the development of its candidates.
Biota ($BOTA), an anti-infective products maker, has two Phase II clinical-stage product candidates in its pipeline: vapendavir, an oral broad-spectrum capsid inhibitor of human rhinovirus (HRV); and laninamivir octanoate, an inhalable flu therapy. The move to suspend its preclinical antibiotics program was noted in a Nov. 21 filing with the SEC.
In the 8-K filing, Biota said the suspension will result in workforce cuts and reduce annual operating costs by about $4.5 million. Biota is not yet profitable, posting a net loss of $3.9 million last quarter, compared with a net loss of $7.2 million in the same period of 2012.
Big Pharma has largely abandoned the antibiotics space, and academia and small biotechs have been left to fill the virtually empty antibacterials pipeline. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned in September that the world's pipeline of antibiotics has gone dry at a time when antimicrobial resistance is on the rise. Microbes are increasingly adapting and developing drug resistance, rendering antibacterial medications currently on the market ineffective. Essentially, microbes are changing faster than the industry can develop new antibiotics--a problem that poses an enormous public health threat.
In the U.S, alone, at least 2 million people per year acquire serious infections with bacteria that are resistant to one or more of the antibiotics designed to treat those infections. Annually, at least 23,000 of those die as a result of infection, according the CDC's September report. Most of these infections--like E. coli, salmonella, Shigella and C. difficile--are acquired in healthcare settings, such as hospitals or nursing homes.
- here's the 8-K document