FDA decision expected by PDUFA target action date of March 22, 2023
If approved, rezafungin will be the first new drug for the treatment of candidemia and invasive candidiasis in over a decade
SAN DIEGO and PARSIPPANY, N.J., Jan. 25, 2023 — Cidara Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: CDTX) and Melinta Therapeutics, LLC today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Antimicrobial Drugs Advisory Committee voted favorably 14 to 1 that Cidara, as part of its New Drug Application (NDA), provided sufficient evidence supporting a favorable benefit-risk assessment for a limited use indication for rezafungin for the treatment of candidemia and invasive candidiasis in adult patients with limited or no alternative treatment options.
“We are extremely pleased that the FDA’s advisory committee has recommended that the FDA approve rezafungin for difficult-to-treat and often deadly candidemia and invasive candidiasis,” said Jeffrey Stein, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Cidara. “This positive recommendation is a significant step towards our goal of providing a once-weekly treatment option for patients with invasive Candida infections, for which no new drugs have been approved in over a decade. We believe rezafungin, if approved, could provide an effective new alternative for patients battling these potentially deadly diseases. We want to thank the many patients and healthcare teams who have participated in the clinical studies of these deadly infections, and we look forward to working with the FDA as it completes its review of our application.”
The Committee’s positive vote was based on clinical data from the Cidara’s global ReSTORE Phase 3 and supported by the STRIVE Phase 2 clinical trials and extensive non-clinical development program. Rezafungin dosed once-weekly demonstrated statistical non-inferiority versus caspofungin, the current standard of care, dosed once-daily, meeting the primary endpoints for both the FDA and the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
“The Committee’s robust discussion was an important step in the FDA’s review of rezafungin. We are pleased that the committee recognized the unmet need that rezafungin will address in the treatment of candidemia and invasive candidiasis. We remain committed to working closely with our partner Cidara in securing FDA approval of rezafungin,” Christine Ann Miller, president and chief executive officer of Melinta Therapeutics, added. “We also look forward to leveraging our established commercial infrastructure and experience in marketing infectious disease products, especially within the hospital and acute care settings, to make rezafungin available to healthcare providers and their patients, if approved.”
The FDA is not bound by the Advisory Committee’s recommendations, but generally takes the recommendation into consideration when making its decision. Cidara’s NDA for rezafungin was accepted for filing and granted Priority Review by the FDA on September 20, 2022. The FDA has assigned a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) target action date of March 22, 2023, enabled by rezafungin’s designation as a Qualified Infectious Disease Product (QIDP).
Last year, Melinta announced that it had acquired the exclusive rights to commercialize rezafungin in the U.S. from Cidara. Cidara retains the rights to rezafungin in Japan and has licensed the commercial rights to Melinta Therapeutics in the U.S. and Mundipharma in all other geographies. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) accepted the marketing authorization application (MAA) for rezafungin in August 2022 and it is currently under review.
About Cidara Therapeutics
Cidara is developing long-acting therapeutics designed to improve the standard of care for patients facing serious diseases. The Company’s portfolio is comprised of new approaches aimed at transforming existing treatment and prevention paradigms, first with its lead Phase 3 antifungal candidate, rezafungin, in addition to drug-Fc conjugates (DFCs) targeting viral and oncological diseases from Cidara’s proprietary Cloudbreak® platform. Cidara is headquartered in San Diego, California. For more information, please visit www.cidara.com.
About Melinta Therapeutics
Melinta Therapeutics, LLC provides innovative therapies to people impacted by acute and life-threatening illnesses. Our portfolio currently includes six commercial-stage products: Baxdela® (delafloxacin), Kimyrsa® (oritavancin), Minocin® (minocycline) for Injection, Orbactiv® (oritavancin), TOPROL-XL® (metoprolol succinate) and Vabomere® (meropenem and vaborbactam). Melinta also has a licensing agreement in place with Cidara Therapeutics securing the rights to market and distribute the development candidate, rezafungin in the United States.
With an unsurpassed commitment to providers and the patients they serve, we work to ensure that all people who need our therapies can receive them. We focus our expanding portfolio on serving patients with an unmet need because that’s how we make the most meaningful impact. At Melinta, we’re visionaries dedicated to innovation while staying grounded in what matters most: patients. For additional information, including product and respective important safety information, please visit our website.
TOPROL-XL® is a registered trademark of the AstraZeneca group of companies.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. “Forward-looking statements” describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as “anticipates,” “expect,” “may,” “plan” or “will”. Forward-looking statements in this release include, but are not limited to, statements related to whether the FDA will complete its review in accordance with PDUFA goals, whether rezafungin will ultimately be approved for commercialization in the U.S., and if approved whether rezafungin will be viewed as an important treatment option by physicians treating adult patients with serious fungal infections. Such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, such as delays in action by regulatory authorities due to limitations on inspections and other COVID-19-related effects, and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic or other obstacles on the enrollment of patients or other aspects of rezafungin development. These and other risks are identified under the caption “Risk Factors” in Cidara’s most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and other filings subsequently made with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date on which they were made and are based on management’s assumptions and estimates as of such date. Cidara does not undertake any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of the receipt of new information, the occurrence of future events or otherwise.
Cidara Investor Contact:
Brian Ritchie
LifeSci Advisors
(212) 915-2578
britchie@lifesciadvisors.com
Cidara Media Contact:
Patrick Bursey
LifeSci Communications
(203) 430-9545
pbursey@lifescicomms.com
Melinta Contact:
Susan Blum
908-617-1300
info@melinta.com
