Achaogen, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAO), a late-stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative antibacterials addressing multi-drug resistant (MDR) gram-negative infections, announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Antimicrobial Drugs Advisory Committee voted on the two points for Advisory Committee consideration as follows:
1. Has the applicant provided substantial evidence of the safety and effectiveness of plazomicin for the treatment of complicated urinary tract infections?
Result: (15-0-0) There were 15 yes votes and zero no votes. No members of the panel abstained.
2. Has the applicant provided substantial evidence of the safety and effectiveness of plazomicin for the treatment of bloodstream infections in patients with limited or no treatment options?
Result: (4-11-0) There were four yes votes and 11 no votes. No members of the panel abstained.
There were 16 panel members at the meeting, one of whom departed prior to the vote and was therefore not present for the voting.
"We are encouraged by the Committee's unanimous vote in favor of plazomicin for complicated urinary tract infections (cUTI). The discussion underscored the real-world challenges that healthcare providers face every day given limited or inadequate treatment options for certain pathogens," said Blake Wise, Achaogen's Chief Executive Officer. "Regarding bloodstream infections, the Limited-Population Antibacterial Drug pathway, or LPAD, is a novel approach that enables the FDA to consider the benefits and risks for the sickest patients who have few or no available treatment options, and to approve antibiotics like plazomicin that we believe, have the potential to address these limited patient populations."
The FDA is not bound by the Committee's votes but takes its input into consideration when reviewing marketing applications. Plazomicin has a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) date of June 25, 2018. If the FDA approves plazomicin by this target action date, Achaogen expects to launch plazomicin in the U.S. soon thereafter.
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