Venatorx Pharmaceuticals has been awarded a contract by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to advance a novel series of Penicillin Binding Protein (PBP) Inhibitors targeting multi-drug resistant (MDR) Acinetobacter baumannii through Phase 1 clinical testing.

Venatorx Pharmaceuticals was named one of the “2020 Best Places to Work” in the medium-sized company category in the Greater Philadelphia area by the Philadelphia Business Journal.

Venatorx Pharmaceuticals and the Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP) today announced a collaboration to accelerate the development of, and access to, cefepime-taniborbactam (formerly cefepime/VNRX-5133). Cefepime-taniborbactam is an investigational combination of the fourth-generation antibiotic cefepime with taniborbactam, a novel, broad-spectrum beta-lactamase inhibitor that restores the activity of cefepime against carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) and carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (CRPA).

Everest Medicines announced the results from an in vitro study of taniborbactam (VNRX-5133) combined with cefepime. Findings from the study are published in the March 2020 issue of the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. The paper is entitled “In vitro activity of the novel beta-lactamase inhibitor taniborbactam (VNRX-5133), in combination with cefepime, against MDR Gram-negative bacterial isolates from China”.

Venatorx Pharmaceuticals today announced that it joined the Alliance for Biosecurity, a coalition of biopharmaceutical companies – along with laboratory and academic partners – that promotes a strong public-private partnership in order to ensure the medical countermeasures that protect public health are effective and readily available.

CARB-X is awarding Venatorx Pharmaceuticals up to US$4.1 million in non-dilutive funding, with the possibility of up to an additional US$8.9 million if certain project milestones are met, to develop a new class of oral antibiotics to treat infections caused by multi-drug-resistant (MDR) Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

With more than 20 years’ experience, Dr. Larsen is globally recognized as a leader in the area of public health preparedness. At Venatorx, Dr. Larsen will help translate Venatorx’s rich internal programs toward strategic public and private partnerships, and will help identify new growth opportunities for Venatorx.

Venatorx Pharmaceuticals has initiated enrollment in its Phase 3 trial of cefepime/VNRX-5133 in patients with complicated urinary tract infections (cUTIs). This Phase 3 clinical trial (ClinicalTrials.gov - NCT03840148) is a global randomized, double-blind, active controlled, non-inferiority study evaluating the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of cefepime/VNRX-5133 in adults with cUTI, including acute pyelonephritis. The trial will assess the safety and efficacy of cefepime/VNRX-5133 as compared with that of meropenem using clinical cure and microbiological eradication as the primary composite efficacy endpoint. Venatorx expects to enroll 582 patients for this study, and top-line results are expected by the end of 2020.