Schering Plough gets Avelox indication for stomach infections

The antibiotic Avelox (moxifloxacin HCI) has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in treating complicated intra-abdominal infections (cIAI).

The drug, which was developed by Bayer but is marketed in the US by Schering Plough, had already been approved for complicated skin and structure infections in June. Clinical tests with the drug and cIAI sufferers found a success rate of 79.8 per cent, slightly higher than conventional combined IV and PO treatments.

Intra-abdominal infections affect 3.5 million people a year in the US alone. The condition is often caused by trauma, surgery or disease in the abdomen, which results in bacteria seeping out of the gastro-intestinal track.

Specialist Joseph S Solomkin of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine said that the approval was “welcome news, providing doctors with an effective treatment option for their patients, and giving patients convenient once-daily dosing and an easy transition from IV to oral therapy when they leave the hospital”.

“By adding two new indications this year, Avelox has successfully expanded its utility as a broad-spectrum antibiotic,” said Robert Spiegel of Schering Plough.

“This will help toward Avelox becoming a fluoroquinolone of choice for its approved indications.”

Schering-Plough had obtained the exclusive US rights for the Avelox oral daily treatment in 2004.

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