By Fineline Cube SciClone Pharmaceuticals Inc (Nasdaq: SCLN), a China-based company since going private in 2017, announced a licensing agreement with Italy-based Menarini Group regarding the latter’s novel drug Vaborem (meropenem). Under the agreement, SciClone will obtain development, regulatory, and commercialization rights to the antibacterial drug in China. SciClone will pay Menarini Group an undisclosed amount in upfront and milestone payments, as well as royalties. The collaboration aims to expand treatment options for bacterial resistance, addressing the public health threat posed by drug-resistant infections, particularly carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae.
Drug Details
Vaborem is a novel antibacterial compound formulation composed of the carbapenem antibacterial drug meropenem and the novel cyclic boronic acid beta-lactamase inhibitor viborbactam. Meropenem is a widely used broad-spectrum antibiotic that inhibits cell wall synthesis, resulting in a bactericidal effect. It penetrates the cell walls of most Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria to bind penicillin-binding protein (PBP) targets. Viborbactam inhibits various class A and class C beta-lactamases, as well as carbapenemases prevalent in Enterobacteriaceae worldwide, thereby protecting meropenem from degradation by certain enzymes.
Approvals and Availability
Vaborem has already been approved to treat complicated urinary tract infection (cUTI) in adults, including pyelonephritis, in the US and European Union. It is also commercially available to treat complicated intra-abdominal infection (cIAI), hospital-acquired bacterial pneumonia (HABP), and ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia (VABP).-Fineline Info & Tech