Allergan, AstraZeneca sign antibiotic development deal

The companies did not disclose the financial terms of the transaction, under which Allergan will maintain marketing rights for the product in the US and Canada.

AstraZeneca will maintain commercialization rights in all other countries.

The deals follows the alliance struck in September last year by AstraZeneca and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).

BARDA agreed to initially provide $50m for drug discovery with a potential $170m on offer for a five-year development initiative to build a portfolio of drug candidates with potential to treat illnesses caused by bioterrorism agents and antibiotic-resistant infections. ATM-AVI is one of the compounds.

Commenting on the deal with Allergan, AstraZeneca managing director of antibiotics business unit Hans Sijbesma said: "This collaboration represents an important milestone in the development of ATM-AVI. Antimicrobial resistance is a huge global health challenge, which is increasingly at the forefront of the public health agenda.

"We look forward to working with health authorities to help bring this much-needed new treatment option to patients."

In Europe, ATM-AVI is being supported in phase 2 development by the European Union’s Innovation Medicines Initiative, which has also agreed to support AstraZeneca’s development process going into the phase 3 research required for regulatory approval.

Currently, there are limited treatment options for Gram-negative infections, which include those caused by Acinetobacter, Klebsiella, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and E. coli., as well as several other less common bacteria.