It’s been a long road for Basilea to reach the world’s biggest pharmaceutical market with Zevtera. The company first tried to win approval for Zevtera more than 15 years ago with its former partner, Johnson & Johnson. Setbacks in both the U.S. and European markets followed, with Basilea blaming J&J for faulty management of clinical trials for patients with a different set of skin infections.
J&J returned the rights to the drug to Basilea in 2010, and the company began winning regulatory clearances around the world and recruiting new partners. Basilea says it now has license and distribution agreements for the drug in more than 80 nations.
