AstraZeneca, Forest Labs to develop ceftaroline

NEW YORK Two drug companies have announced an agreement to develop a drug for treating drug-resistant bacterial infections.

New York-based Forest Labs and Anglo-Swedish drug maker AstraZeneca said Wednesday that they would work together to develop and commercialize ceftaroline in markets outside the United States, Canada and Japan.

The drug, currently in late-stage clinical trials, is designed to treat complicated skin structure infections and community-acquired bacterial pneumonia caused by bacteria such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and multi-drug resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae. Forest hopes to file an approval application with the Food and Drug Administration by the end of the year, while AstraZeneca hopes to file one for Europe by the end of next year.

Under the terms of the agreement, AstraZeneca will pay Forest a signing fee, royalties from sales and milestone payments and assume responsibility for development, approval and commercialization of ceftaroline in the areas covered by the agreement. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.