Everest Medicines' Partner Venatorx Receives FDA Acceptance and Priority Review of New Drug Application for Cefepime-Taniborbactam to Treat Complicated Urinary Tract Infections (cUTI)

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SHANGHAI, Aug. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Everest Medicines (HKEX 1952.HK)'s partner Venatorx Pharmaceuticals announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted the company's New Drug Application (NDA) for cefepime-taniborbactam, an investigational beta-lactam/beta-lactamase inhibitor (BL/BLI) antibiotic for the potential treatment of adult patients with complicated urinary tract infections (cUTI), including pyelonephritis. The FDA has granted Priority Review of the NDA with a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) target action date of Feb. 22, 2024.

"We congratulate our partner for achieving this important milestone and bringing cefepime-taniborbactam a step closer to reaching patients confronted with antibacterial resistant infections. As multi-drug resistant infections increasingly pose significant challenges to global public health, the FDA's acceptance of the NDA for priority review is a positive step toward review and potential approval of cefepime-taniborbactam, which was developed to address evolving critical unmet needs in AMR," said Rogers Yongqing Luo, Chief Executive Officer of Everest Medicines. "In Asia, the challenges we are facing from MDR infections are more urgent and severe. Everest is proud to be part of the global Phase 3 clinical study, and is working closely with regulatory authorities and partner Venatorx to advance the drug candidate to NDA filings in China and other Asian territories as quickly as possible."

The FDA previously granted Qualified Infectious Disease Product and Fast Track designations to cefepime-taniborbactam. The cefepime-taniborbactam NDA filing is supported by results from the pivotal Phase 3 study, CERTAIN-1, evaluating the efficacy and safety of cefepime-taniborbactam compared to meropenem in adults with cUTI, including acute pyelonephritis. Cefepime-taniborbactam was superior to meropenem for the primary efficacy endpoint of composite microbiologic and clinical success at the Test of Cure (TOC) visit (Day 19-23) in the microbiological intent-to-treat (microITT) population. Cefepime-taniborbactam was well-tolerated and no new safety findings were identified.

Infectious disease is one of Everest's key therapeutic areas, led by XERAVA® which was commercially launched in mainland China in July 2023. The company is also actively developing other important antibacterial drug candidates for combating the increasing MDR infections in China and the rest of Asia.

About Cefepime-Taniborbactam

Cefepime, a fourth-generation cephalosporin, is a widely used beta-lactam (BL) antibiotic with more than two decades of proven safety and clinical utility against susceptible gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria. Taniborbactam is a beta-lactamase inhibitor (BLI) that, in combination with cefepime, is being studied as a potential treatment option for patients with serious bacterial infections caused by antibiotic resistant gram-negative bacteria, most notably extended spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-expressing Enterobacterales, carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE), and multidrug-resistant (MDR) Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MDR-PA), which can include carbapenem-resistant P. aeruginosa (CRPA). 

About the CERTAIN-1 Phase 3 Clinical Trial

CERTAIN-1 (Cefepime Rescue with Taniborbactam in cUTI) was a global, randomized, double-blind, active-controlled non-inferiority Phase 3 study evaluating the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of cefepime-taniborbactam compared to meropenem in adults with cUTI, including acute pyelonephritis.The trial enrolled 661 adult patients who were randomized 2:1 to receive cefepime-taniborbactam 2.5g q8h or meropenem 1g q8h for 7 days (up to 14 days for patients with bacteremia). The primary efficacy endpoint evaluated the composite clinical and microbiologic response (i.e., bacterial eradication) at the Test of Cure (TOC) visit (Day 19-23) in the microbiological intent-to-treat (microITT) population.

Cefepime-taniborbactam met the primary efficacy endpoint of statistical noninferiority (NI) to meropenem in the microITT population at TOC with composite microbiologic and clinical success occurring in 70.6% of cefepime-taniborbactam treated patients and 58.0% of meropenem treated patients (treatment difference 12.6; 95% CI, 3.1, 22.2). A prespecified superiority assessment was conducted following confirmation of NI.  Superiority was concluded as the lower bound of the 95% CI for noninferiority was greater than zero. The pre-specified superiority test (two-sided p-value = 0.0088) demonstrated the strength of evidence associated with the superiority conclusion. The efficacy of cefepime-taniborbactam was sustained for the composite microbiologic and clinical response at the Late-Follow-Up (Day 28-35) visit.

Rates of treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) were 35.5% for cefepime-taniborbactam and 29.0% for meropenem. Serious TEAEs occurred in 2.0% and 1.8% of cefepime-taniborbactam and meropenem treated patients, respectively. Treatment discontinuations due to TEAEs occurred in 3.0% of cefepime-taniborbactam patients and 0.9% of meropenem treated patients. There was one death in the cefepime-taniborbactam treatment group, which was unrelated to study treatment as assessed by the investigator.

About Everest Medicines

Everest Medicines is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing transformative pharmaceutical products that address critical unmet medical needs for patients in Asian markets. The management team of Everest Medicines has deep expertise and an extensive track record of high-quality clinical development, regulatory affairs, CMC, business development and operations both in China and with leading global pharmaceutical companies. Everest Medicines has built a portfolio of eleven potentially global first-in-class or best-in-class molecules, many of which are in late-stage clinical development. The Company's therapeutic areas of interest include oncology, autoimmune disorders, cardio-renal diseases, and infectious diseases. For more information, please visit its website at www.everestmedicines.com.   

About Venatorx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 

Venatorx is a private, pre-commercial pharmaceutical company focused on improving health outcomes for patients with difficult-to-treat drug resistant gram-negative bacterial infections and viral infections. Venatorx's lead asset, cefepime-taniborbactam, is an investigational antibiotic that completed a Phase 3 study (NCT03840148) in adults with complicated urinary tract infections (cUTI), including pyelonephritis and is under FDA review with a PDUFA action date of February 22, 2024.  In September 2018, Venatorx entered into an exclusive license agreement with Everest Medicines to support the development, registration, and commercialization of cefepime-taniborbactam in Mainland China, Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, and select countries in Southeast Asia (the "Territory"). For more information about Venatorx and its anti-infectives portfolio, please visit www.venatorx.com. 

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SOURCE Everest Medicines