The experts note the sad trend on the market of antibacterial drugs. Once again, a manufacturer of innovative and highly effective antibiotics fell flat. For this once, the American company Melinta Therapeutics that only in October 2019 successfully expanded the indications for use of its new antibacterial drug, having received approval for its use to treat pneumonia is on the verge of bankruptcy.
Nevertheless, this fact did not result in income increase and the company finished the year on a rather sad note – its market capitalization amounted only to 8 million USD. Now, Melinta Therapeutics has to compromise by transferring the control to Deerfield Management Company as payment for the $140 million principal amount of the loan.
The experts see a worrying negative trend of the declining number of research and development of antibacterial drugs on the background of the threat of bacterial resistance.
The Manufacturers’ focus on the production of antibiotics is inexorably distorted as the healthcare systems prefer purchasing of less expensive generics and resort to the use of relatively inexpensive branded antibiotics only in the extreme cases despite the risks of drug resistance. At the same time, none of the suggestions to stimulate the development of antibiotics have been brought to realization.