The FDA has approved Melinta Therapeutics' Baxdela (delafloxacin) for adults for the treatment of acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSI) caused by susceptible bacteria. Baxdela is a fluoroquinolone that exhibits activity against both gram-positive and gram-negative pathogens, including MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), and is available in both intravenous (IV) and oral formulations.

“The approximately 3 million patients hospitalized each year in the U.S. with ABSSSI often present treatment challenges owing to their underlying medical conditions, making optimal antibiotic selection difficult. Baxdela provides a treatment option for adult patients with ABSSSI based on its coverage spectrum, IV and oral dosing flexibility, efficacy and safety profile,” said Eugene Sun, MD, CEO of Melinta. “The approval of Baxdela demonstrates FDA’s commitment to making new and effective antibiotics available to address unmet needs for hospitalized ABSSSI patients.”

“Antibiotic resistance is a growing concern, and physicians need more tools in the fight against this threat to modern medicine. Approval of new therapies like Baxdela, which is effective against MRSA and other serious pathogens, provides physicians another option in addressing the challenges of ABSSSI patients,” said Dr. David Hooper, professor of medicine, Harvard University, and chief of Infection Control, associate chief, Division of Infectious Diseases, Massachusetts General Hospital.

"The FDA approval of Baxdela is a major milestone for Melinta. We are grateful to the patients, families, investigators and their staffs for their support in developing an important new therapy. We want to thank the Melinta team for its leadership in bringing the first of what we believe will be many innovative antibiotics to patients,” said Kevin Ferro, CEO of Vatera Healthcare Partners, Melinta’s largest investor.

The Baxdela New Drug Application (NDA) approvals were supported by two Phase 3 studies in patients with ABSSSI, demonstrating that IV and oral Baxdela monotherapy was statistically non-inferior to the combination of vancomycin plus aztreonam at the FDA primary endpoint of early clinical response at 48-72 hours. Baxdela was well tolerated with a 0.9% discontinuation rate in the Phase 3 studies due to adverse events. In addition, Baxdela has not shown any potential for QT prolongation or phototoxicity in definitive clinical studies. There have been no signals of adverse effects on liver function, kidney function, or glucose regulation in controlled clinical studies. The 450 mg tablet is bioequivalent (area under the curve) to, and interchangeable with the 300 mg IV dose, and can be dosed without regard to food. There are no anticipated drug-drug interactions with delafloxacin other than co-administration with chelating agents, such as antacids.