Mer­ck tests an­tibi­otics wa­ters again as FDA OKs Zer­bax­a's ex­pand­ed use in pneu­mo­nia

In a rare Big Phar­ma ad­vance in the an­tibi­otics field, Mer­ck has re­vived hopes for Zer­baxa with a new ap­proval for two types of pneu­mo­nia com­mon­ly ob­served in hos­pi­tals.

The drug — which con­sists of ceftolozane and tazobac­tam — has gar­nered mea­ger sales since it was first ap­proved in 2014 for com­pli­cat­ed uri­nary tract in­fec­tions, not even enough to war­rant a men­tion in Mer­ck’s an­nu­al re­port last year.

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