Bayer’s antibiotic drug-device combo fails in late-stage trial

Bayer (ETR:BAYN) reported last week that its antibiotic drug-device combination product failed in a phase III trial.

In the 725-patient Inhale trial, Bayer’s Amikacin Inhale did not out-perform a placebo as a treatment for Gram-negative pneumonia in patients on ventilators.

Bayer licensed the rights to Nektar Therapeutics‘ (NSDQ:NKTR) antibiotic-delivery product for $175 million in 2007, according to FierceBiotech.

The vibrating mesh nebulizer is designed to deliver amikacin at levels that are much higher than systemic delivery. But the Inhale trial showed that adding Amikacin Inhale to a standard antibiotic regimen used to treat Gram-negative pneumonia did not boost overall survival after 28 days compared to the control group.

The drug-device product also failed to improve the number of days that patients spent on mechanical ventilation.

“The results of the Inhale study are disappointing, considering that morbidity and mortality remain significant in these patients. However, the study provides important clinical data for this difficult-to-treat disease,” Bayer’s head of development, Dr. Joerg Moeller, said in prepared remarks.

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