The Global Antibiotic Research & Development Partnership (GARDP) and Indian company Orchid Pharma have entered a sublicence agreement for the production of antibiotic cefiderocol for treating specific Gram-negative infections.

The latest agreement is a vital step under a project by Shionogi, GARDP and the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI).

Unveiled in June 2022, the project is intended to offer this antibiotic to various low and middle-income countries, following necessary approvals.

It is aimed at eliminating the gaps in equal access to crucial antibiotics across the globe, especially for regions with greater antimicrobial resistance rates.

Under a licensing deal signed by Shionogi and GARDP last year, the latter delivers cefiderocol to 135 countries that do not have access to the antibiotic.

As per the new deal, CHAI will aid in the technology transfer process between Shionogi and Orchid while Shionogi will provide key data required for the production of the antibiotic to Orchid.

This approach will facilitate Orchid in manufacturing cefiderocol and cutting down expenditures that patients might have to bear otherwise. 

Cefiderocol received approvals from the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency in 2019 and 2020, respectively.

This antibiotic is also part of essential therapies under the World Health Organization’s list.

GARDP executive director Manica Balasegaram said: “We can effectively offset the burden of antibiotic resistance by reducing the access gap between high and lower-income countries so that the right antibiotics are affordable and available for appropriate use.

“We are proud to work with Orchid to help make this a reality for cefiderocol and we hope that this project can help pave the way for access to additional antibiotics in the future.”