{"id":630486,"date":"2026-09-28T22:48:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T22:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/630486\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T22:48:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T22:48:17","slug":"merck-discontinues-antiobiotic-recarbrio-in-u-s-despite-superbug-fears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/630486\/","title":{"rendered":"Merck discontinues antiobiotic Recarbrio in U.S., despite superbug fears"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"author-bio\">Ed\u2019s stories explore prescription drug pricing, affordability and access, as well issues surrounding patents, litigation, and legislation. He is also the author of the morning <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/signup\/pharmalittle\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pharmalittle newsletter<\/a> and the afternoon <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/signup\/pharmalot\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pharmalot newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In an unexpected move, Merck discontinued an important antibiotic from the U.S. market earlier this month, underscoring concerns about the commitment large pharmaceutical companies are willing to make to a field that is crucial to public health.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The drugmaker is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.drugs.com\/drug-shortages\/imipenem-anhydrous-cilastatin-and-relebactam-anhydrous-injection-117\" id=\"https:\/\/www.drugs.com\/drug-shortages\/imipenem-anhydrous-cilastatin-and-relebactam-anhydrous-injection-117\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">no longer supplying Recarbrio<\/a>, which was approved seven years ago and is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.merck.com\/product\/usa\/pi_circulars\/r\/recarbrio\/recarbrio_pi.pdf\" id=\"https:\/\/www.merck.com\/product\/usa\/pi_circulars\/r\/recarbrio\/recarbrio_pi.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">used to treat<\/a> serious infections in adults and children, such as pneumonia that develops from a hospital or ventilator, as well as complicated urinary tract and stomach infections in patients with limited or no alternative treatment options.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The company did not explain its decision, but the antibiotic \u2014 a three-drug combination injection \u2014 was pegged from the outset as a treatment of last resort by the Food and Drug Administration in hopes of mitigating antibiotic resistance. However, this also limits market and sales potential. Merck did not disclose Recarbrio sales in its regulatory filings.<\/p>\n<p class=\"restricted-text\">STAT+ Exclusive Story<\/p>\n<p class=\"restricted-login\">Already have an account? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/login\/\" data-stat-login=\"\" data-stat-paywall-cta=\"breaker login cta\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Log in<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"restricted-content-breaker-bg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790635697_338_stat-plus-breaker-bg.png\" alt=\"STAT+\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/stat-plus\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"stat-plus-logo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/wp-content\/themes\/stat\/images\/stat-plus-logo-white.svg\" alt=\"STAT+\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\tThis article is exclusive to STAT+ subscribers<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tUnlock this article \u2014 plus in-depth analysis, newsletters, premium events, and news alerts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"restricted-content-breaker-wrapper-cta mobile\">Already have an account? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/login\/\" data-stat-login=\"\" data-stat-paywall-cta=\"breaker login cta mobile\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Log in<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tIndividual plans<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tGroup plans<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/stat-plus\/\" class=\"stat-button view-all\" data-stat-paywall-cta=\"breaker view all plans\" aria-label=\"View All Plans\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">View All Plans<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"restricted-content-text\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tTo read the rest of this story subscribe to STAT+.\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/stat-plus\/\" class=\"stat-button restricted-button\" data-stat-paywall-cta=\"breaker subscribe cta 1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Subscribe<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ed\u2019s stories explore prescription drug pricing, affordability and access, as well issues surrounding patents, litigation, and legislation. He&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":630487,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[304,114,6844,85,46,7299,4555,546,15830],"class_list":["post-630486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-biotechnology","tag-business","tag-drug-development","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-pharmaceuticals","tag-policy","tag-public-health","tag-stat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=630486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/630487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=630486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=630486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=630486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}