Cidara Therapeutics, Inc. and Melinta Therapeutics, LLC announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Antimicrobial Drugs Advisory Committee voted favorably 14 to 1 that Cidara, as part of its New Drug Application (NDA), provided sufficient evidence supporting a favorable benefit-risk assessment for a limited use indication for rezafungin for the treatment of candidemia and invasive candidiasis in adult patients with limited or no alternative treatment options. The Committee's positive vote was based on clinical data from the Cidara's global ReSTORE Phase 3 and supported by the STRIVE Phase 2 clinical trials and extensive non-clinical development program. Rezafungin dosed once-weekly demonstrated statistical non-inferiority versus caspofungin, the current standard of care, dosed once-daily, meeting the primary endpoints for both the FDA and the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

The FDA is not bound by the Advisory Committee's recommendations, but generally takes the recommendation into consideration when making its decision. Cidara's NDA for rezafungin was accepted for filing and granted Priority Review by the FDA on September 20, 2022. The FDA has assigned a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) target action date of March 22, 2023, enabled by rezafungin's designation as a Qualified Infectious Disease Product (QIDP).

Last year, Melinta announced that it had acquired the exclusive rights to commercialize rezafungin in the U.S. from Cidara. Cidara retains the rights to rezafungin in Japan and has licensed the commercial rights to Melinta Therapeutics in the U.S. and Mundipharma in all other geographies. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) accepted the marketing authorization application (MAA) for rezafungin in August 2022 and it is currently under review.