NewHavenBIZ

22 n e w h a v e n B I Z | J a n u a r y / F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 9 n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m M e l i n t a T h e r a p e u t i c s Born in 2000 as Rib-X, Melinta Therapeutics was a shining star in New Haven's biotech firmament. Now, disappointing drug sales and a drastic downsizing have cast doubt on its ability to survive By Natalie Missakian I n June 2017, New Haven-born Melinta erapeutics was celebrating what many consider a crowning — and oen elusive — achievement for a small bioscience company. Founded on the groundbreaking research of a Nobel Prize-winning Yale biophysicist, the company had just won FDA approval for its new antibiotic Baxdela, developed to treat skin infections caused by the stubborn MRSA bug. e ruling marked a triumphant milestone in Melinta's 17-year-long quest to bring its first-ever commercial drug to the marketplace. Industry observers branded the news a win for New Haven's bioscience industry, raising hopes that a new revenue stream from sales of the drug would allow the company to flourish and add jobs in the Elm City. "e fact that we will have a commercial product I think makes our future much more secure and that we'll have revenue and greater sustainability as a company and, therefore, an even greater need to keep our research opera- tion going — so that should be a good sign to Connecticut," then-CEO Eugene Sun told the Hartford Business Journal at the time. But the glow of victory quickly faded last year when Baxdela and three other FDA-ap- proved antibiotics Melinta acquired from Parsippany, N.J.-based e Medicines Co. as part of a $270 million deal last January didn't sell as well as expected. Under pressure to bolster its bottom line, Melinta announced in November that it was making the "difficult decision" to significantly scale back its investment in R&D, citing an "extremely challenging time for the antibiotics industry." e move, part of a cost-cutting plan aimed at saving $50 million next year, was essentially a death blow for Melinta's New Haven oper- ation, where much of the research team has been housed. In late November, the company pink-slipped 22 out of 25 New Haven employees, placing the fate of the 22,000-square-foot facility at 300 George St. and the potentially life-sav- ing research being conduct- ed there — including work on an entirely new class of antibiotics to combat the growing threat of super- bugs — in question. At the same time Melinta also laid off an unspecified workers in its other offices in Chicago and New Jersey. "It is a sad day for antibiotics, where there is such high medical need," said Susan Froshauer, Co-founder Peter Moore: Antibiotics development doesn't buy corporate jets.

• Cover