With loom­ing ‘apoc­a­lypse of drug re­sis­tance,’ Mer­ck’s com­bi­na­tion an­tibi­ot­ic scores FDA ap­proval on two fronts

Mer­ck — one of the last large bio­phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals com­pa­nies in the be­lea­guered field of an­tibi­ot­ic drug de­vel­op­ment — on Wednes­day said the FDA had sanc­tioned the ap­proval of its com­bi­na­tion an­tibac­te­r­i­al for the treat­ment of com­pli­cat­ed uri­nary tract and in­tra-ab­dom­i­nal in­fec­tions.

To curb the rise of drug-re­sis­tant bac­te­ria and main­tain the ef­fi­ca­cy of the ther­a­py, Re­car­brio (and oth­er an­tibac­te­ri­als) — the drug must be used to treat or pre­vent in­fec­tions that are proven or strong­ly sus­pect­ed to be caused by sus­cep­ti­ble gram-neg­a­tive bac­te­ria, Mer­ck $MRK said.

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