Pharma’s Antibiotic Bet Is Still On: Shionogi Drops $600M-Plus to Fuel Swiss Biotech’s Drug Program

Shionogi’s new deal with Swiss biotech BioVersys — a package worth more than $600 million in milestones — is a fresh reminder that serious money is still flowing into the antibiotic space. Even with a relatively small upfront payment, the size of the backend rewards shows pharma is willing to bet big on programs that can tackle stubborn infections like NTM, where treatment options are thin. After years of hand-wringing about the collapse of antibiotic R&D, these kinds of partnerships signal a quiet but meaningful resurgence of interest. It’s proof that investors and large pharma haven’t given up on the field — they’re just being smarter about how they deploy capital.