FDA Grants QIDP and Fast Track Designations for Cubist's Late-Stage Antibiotic Candidates

Cubist Pharmaceuticals CBST today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has designated the company's late-stage antibiotic candidate, ceftolozane/tazobactam, as a Qualified Infectious Disease Product (QIDP) for the indications of Hospital-Acquired Bacterial Pneumonia (HABP)/Ventilator-Associated Bacterial Pneumonia (VABP) and Complicated Urinary Tract Infections (cUTI). Additionally, the company received from the FDA notification that Cubist's antibiotic candidates, ceftolozane/tazobactam and surotomycin, have been granted Fast Track status in their previously granted QIDP indications, Complicated Intra-Abdominal Infections (cIAI) and Clostridium difficile-Associated Diarrhea (CDAD) respectively. “We are excited to receive the QIDP and Fast Track designations for ceftolozane/tazobactam and surotomycin, which further reinforce the importance the FDA places on helping to advance critically needed antibiotics,” said Steven Gilman, Ph.D., Executive Vice President of Research and Development and Chief Scientific Officer of Cubist Pharmaceuticals. “In a very short period of time, the GAIN Act has shown its value in helping to incentivize antibiotic development.” The QIDP designation for ceftolozane/tazobactam will enable Cubist to benefit from certain incentives for the development of new antibiotics, including priority review, eligibility for Fast Track status, and if ceftolozane/tazobactam is ultimately approved by the FDA, a five year extension of Hatch-Waxman exclusivity. These incentives are provided under the Generating Antibiotic Incentives Now Act (GAIN Act), which received strong bipartisan support in Congress and was signed into law by President Obama in July 2012 as part of the FDA Safety and Innovation Act (FDASIA), the fifth authorization of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act. Ceftolozane/tazobactam is currently being studied in pivotal Phase 3 trials as a potential first-line intravenous therapy for the treatment of cIAI and cUTI caused by Gram-negative pathogens, including those caused by multi-drug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Cubist expects to initiate a Phase 3 VABP program for ceftolozane/tazobactam by mid-year. Surotomycin, a rapidly bactericidal lipopeptide, is currently in Phase 3 being studied as a potential treatment for patients with a severe and sometimes life-threatening diarrhea caused by CDAD. About The GAIN Act The GAIN Act, Title VIII (Sections 801 through 806) of the FDASIA, provides pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies with incentives to develop new antibacterial and antifungal drugs for the treatment of life-threatening infectious diseases caused by drug resistant pathogens. Qualifying pathogens are defined by the GAIN Act to include multi-drug resistant Gram-negative bacteria, including Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, Klebsiella, and Escherichia coli species; resistant Gram-positive pathogens, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus; multi-drug resistant tuberculosis; and Clostridium difficile. About Gram-negative bacteria The diseases caused by Gram-negative bacteria include intra-abdominal infections, urinary tract infections, pneumonia, peritonitis, septicemia, neonatal meningitis, and burn and wound infections. In the US in 2003, Gram-negative bacteria were associated with many of the most frequent types of hospital-acquired infections including 71% of urinary tract infections, 65% of pneumonia episodes, 34% of surgical site infections, and 24% of bloodstream infections. Important Gram-negative bacteria include Pseudomonas, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella, and Acinetobacter. About CDAD CDAD is a disease caused by an overgrowth of, and toxin production by C. difficile, a Gram-positive bacterium naturally found in the lower gastrointestinal tract. This overgrowth is caused by the use of antibiotics for the treatment of common community and hospital acquired infections. Many antibiotics cure the underlying infection but, as a consequence, disrupt the natural balance of intestinal bacteria which allows C. difficile to overgrow. The overgrown C. difficile bacteria produce enterotoxin and cytotoxin, two proteins that can lead to potentially life-threatening severe diarrhea and sepsis (blood infection). CDAD rates and severity are increasing, due in part to the spread of a new strain with increased virulence and greater resistance to fluoroquinolones, a standard of care treatment. According to an article in the October 2008 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, during the mid- and late-1990s, the reported incidence of C. difficile infections in acute care hospitals in the United States remained stable at 30 to 40 cases per 100,000. However in 2001, this number rose to almost 50, with subsequent increases to the point that the number of cases that were reported in 2005 (84 per 100,000) was nearly three times the 1996 rate (31 per 100,000).