US drugmaker Schering-Plough has reportedly withdrawn its US filing for the antibiotic garenoxacin, much to the disappointment of Japan’s Toyama Chemical, which was counting on royalties from the sale of the drug to bolster its earnings.

According to Toyama, which sold S-P worldwide rights to garenoxacin for $80 million in 2004, the group has temporarily pulled back the application because it has, thus far, failed to find a partner to help it sell the drug in the USA, Reuters reports.

Garenoxacin, a novel broad-spectrum quinolone antibiotic, was filed with the US Food and Drug Administration in February, and the agency was expected to issue a green light for the treatment of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial infections by the end of the year. The drug has also been submitted to European and Japanese regulators.

The delay to garenoxacin’s introduction to the US market is an unfortunate turn of events for the Japanese group, which had included expected royalties from S-P in its earnings forecasts.