Johnson and Johnson shows Ceftobiprole to be as effective as combination therapy

Johnson & Johnson has presented new data showing their investigational antibiotic Ceftobiprole to be as effective as commonly used combination therapy in treating patients with complicated skin infections.

The data, present at the 47th Annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC), showed Ceftobiprole as having 90 per cent success rate of clinically curing patients who had infections caused by caused by Staphylococcus aureus.

Ceftobiprole was also effective against complicated skin infections due to PVL-positive methicillin-resistant S aureus (MRSA).

MRSA is regarded as a growing public health threat, especially in hospital environments as it is becoming an increasingly common source of life-threatening infections in otherwise healthy people.

Study author Gary J Noel emphasised its efficacy in tackling MRSA: “These results demonstrate that Ceftobiprole, as a single agent, may be as effective as commonly used combination therapy in treating a range of today?s serious Gram-negative and Gram-positive infections, such as MRSA.”

Earlier this week, the government set out a new raft of proposals to help tackle healthcare-associated infections like MRSA in hospitals, with these plans including new guidance on isolation of infected patients, clothing and new responsibilities for healthcare staff.