Arpida sells iclaprim to Acino and prepares for Evolva merger
This article was originally published in Scrip
Executive Summary
Arpida has sold its diaminopyrimidine antibiotic iclaprim to fellow Swiss firm Acino for CHF2.1 million ($2.05 million). Development of the drug, which Arpida licensed from Roche and was developing under the name Mersarex, ran aground after the EU's CHMP issued a negative opinion last month (scripnews.com, October 26th, 2009). In the US, the FDA issued a complete response letter requiring further clinical trials which the company deemed to be too costly. An earlier FDA panel had recommended against its approval saying that Arpida had failed to show non-inferiority to linezolid (Pfizer's Zyvox).