A local pharmaceutical company that experienced rising fiscal tides during federal evaluations of its drug candidates is currently navigating troubled waters with the help of a financial services firm.
Stock prices for Cempra Pharmaceuticals peaked at $45 per share in 2015 after the antibiotics producer completed patient enrollment for late-stage clinical trials involving a treatment for bacterial pneumonia.
Press releases from the company refer to that treatment as solithromycin, a next-generation ketolide antibiotic whose unique structure allows for a greater number of interactions with bacterial ribosomes.
The performance of solithromycin was so promising that it received expedited approval by the Food and Drug Administration, which classified the treatment as a qualified infectious disease product.
That classification was jeopardized in 2016 when an FDA advisory committee found that the risk of chemical-driven liver damage from the drug may not have been adequately parsed during clinical trials.
In the weeks that followed the circulation of those findings, the company consulted with a Fujifilm subsidiary in Japan, but its stock prices continued to fall before bottoming out at less than $3 per share.
According to a press release that was issued earlier this month, the services of Morgan Stanley have been retained by the company to lead a review of its strategic business operations.
The release also states that the company will use those services to “determine the best use of its significant cash resources and clinical programs to deliver value to patients and shareholders.”
With over $230 million in liquid assets and a workforce that has been cut by nearly 70 percent, the company may be in the process of putting itself up for sale as it attempts to make its products accessible to patients.
Image by Cempra Pharmaceuticals.
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