Forest Laboratories presents positive results for ceftaroline

Forest Laboratories has revealed that two phase III trails into the use of its pneumonia treatment ceftaroline produced successful outcomes.

During the trials, the company’s late-stage anti-infective treatment ceftaroline achieved high clinical cure rates in adult patients hospitalised for moderate to severe community-acquired pneumonia (CAP).

The two studies demonstrated that ceftaroline produced a clinical cure rate of 84.3 per cent.

Dirk Thye, president of Cerexa, the wholly owned anti-infectives subsidiary of Forest Laboratories, said: “The robust data that have emerged from [the trials] demonstrate that ceftaroline is a very promising new cephalosporin for the treatment of serious pneumonia in hospitalised patients.”

In August, Forest announced that it would collaborate with AstraZeneca on the development and commercialisation of ceftaroline.

AstraZeneca will pay Forest a fee while assuming responsibility for the commercialisation, regulatory approval and development of the drug.