In 2006, worldwide sales of all anti-infective drugs totaled approximately $66.5 billion, with sales of antibiotics accounting for approximately 50% of the total. The overall market is expected to continue its growth and the antibiotic market is expected to reach $45 billion by 2012. This growth is due in large part to the increasing emergence of multi-drug resistant bacterial strains, the deficiencies of currently available antibiotics to treat certain serious bacterial infections and a vulnerable aging population throughout the world’s major markets. The costs associated with managing antibiotic resistance in the U.S. have reached an estimated $10 billion per year and continue to escalate.
In January 2011, Rib-X Pharmaceuticals announced that the company raised $20 million to support ongoing development of their pipeline, including late-stage clinical development of delafloxacin, a hospital focused novel antibiotic that offers both IV and oral versatility in the treatment of resistant infections. Delafloxacin recently entered a Phase 2b study.
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“2011 will be a transformational year for Rib-X and these funds will directly support a number of key initiatives for the company,” said Mark Leuchtenberger, President and Chief Executive Officer at Rib-X.
The financing was led by current investor Warburg Pincus LLC. “We are pleased to continue to support the Rib-X management team and the Company’s innovative antibiotic pipeline, which targets infections resistant to existing antibiotics,” said Jonathan Leff, Managing Director at Warburg Pincus. “Through its deep expertise in antibiotics and insights in structure-based drug design around the bacterial ribosome, Rib-X has brought two differentiated products into advanced clinical development and has created a novel antibiotic discovery platform with the capability to target even the most resistant Gram-negative infections.”
Rib-X Pharmaceuticals will be presenting their technology at OneMedForum NY 2011.