AstraZeneca’s new antibiotic shows efficacy against urinary tract infections

AstraZeneca has reported phase III clinical trial data demonstrating the effectiveness of its promising new antibiotic, CAZ-AVI.

Positive topline results from the pivotal phase III studies RECAPTURE 1 and RECAPTURE 2 have underlined the potential the antibiotic offers as a treatment for adult hospitalised patients with complicated urinary tract infections, including pyelonephritis.

When administered intravenously as a two-hour infusion, CAZ-AVI met the objective of statistical superiority compared to doripenem, while it was also shown to be effective in treating patients infected with ceftazidime-resistant bacteria.

The RECAPTURE data will be provided to the European Medicines Agency as part of the regulatory review process for the on-going CAZ-AVI marketing authorisation application.

Elisabeth Bjork, vice-president for global medicines development at AstraZeneca, said: "AstraZeneca is committed to addressing the public health challenge posed by emerging infections through our portfolio of innovative antibiotics."

The antibiotic has already been approved in the US, where it is being commercialised by Allergan under the brand name Avycaz.