Cidara Therapeutics has been given a lifeline after Johnson & Johnson’s opt-in on its universal flu prevention treatment – though the big pharma is expected to pass it onto a third party.

While the myelodysplastic syndrome trial news seems unlikely to read through to other programs, MDS may have been the drug’s biggest market.

Clinical work on the US biotech’s drug-Fc conjugate, CD388, has been stopped by partner Janssen amid a broader company shift, but there are several paths forward for Cidara after the asset showed early promise in a Phase IIa trial.

Melinta CEO and a representative of the Infectious Diseases Society of America call on a Senate HELP subcommittee to push for passage of PASTEUR Act. Introduced in the Senate and House for the third time this year, the measure would establish a subscription model to pay drug developers upfront for certain antimicrobials.