Drug Company’s Bankruptcy Announcement Highlights Urgent Need for Investment in Infection Fighting Drugs
The bankruptcy filing recently announced by antibiotic maker Melinta once again highlights the daunting challenges facing research and development of new infection-fighting drugs. Melinta is the second antibiotic company this year forced to file bankruptcy because it could not make a sufficient return on its investment in medicines that are urgently needed to protect individual and public health and national security. While Melinta intends to continue normal business operations through the Chapter 11 process, the filing highlights the challenges that antibiotic producers are currently facing. Any closure or stop in production of their company would put into jeopardy the continued availability of its four antibiotics — lifesaving tools that patients cannot afford to lose given our already limited antibiotic arsenal.
Like other antibiotic companies that have faced challenges or even closed in recent years, Melinta faces the challenge that the development of antibiotics, used infrequently and for short durations and held in reserve to protect their effectiveness, does not return quick profits to investors. If Melinta does not successfully complete the Chapter 11 process, it would further decrease the likelihood that investors would take the risk of supporting antibiotic research and development. This bankruptcy underscores the need for swift federal government support and incentives to ensure the availability of effective antibiotics.
Melinta’s bankruptcy announcement is even more concerning in the wake of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Antimicrobial Threat Report showing that more than 2.8 million illnesses and 35,000 deaths are caused by infections that existing medicines no longer effectively treat. IDSA believes the actual impacts of antibiotic resistant infections are even higher than CDC’s conservative estimates.
The announcement of yet another antibiotics company going through challenges highlights a continuing crisis to which policymakers should respond, including with swift passage of the Developing an Innovative Strategy for Antimicrobial Resistant Microorganisms – DISARM – Act. This legislation would reform the way Medicare reimburses for new antibiotics to help to stabilize the antibiotics market, improve patient access to new antibiotics, support the development of new infection-fighting drugs, and preserve the effectiveness of existing medicines. It is equally critical that the federal government strengthen existing investments in antibiotic research and development as well as infection prevention, stewardship and surveillance to ensure a comprehensive response to antibiotic resistance.
IDSA members can take action by contacting their members of Congress and urging them to support the DISARM Act.