New IDSA Clinical Practice Guidelines Recommend NOXAFIL(R) (Posaconazole) for Antifungal Prophylaxis in Certain High-Ris...( KENILWORTH N.J. Jan. 31 /- Scheri...),Health

KENILWORTH, N.J., Jan. 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Schering-Plough Corporation (NYSE: SGP) today reported that its antifungal agent NOXAFIL(R) (posaconazole) Oral Suspension received an A-1 recommendation(1) (highest rating) for the prevention of invasive Aspergillus infections in certain high- risk patients in the latest Treatment of Aspergillosis: Clinical Practice Guidelines of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) released this month. The recommendation pertains to the approved indication of NOXAFIL, in patients 13 years of age and older, for prophylaxis of invasive fungal infections (IFIs) due to Aspergillus in neutropenic patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) or acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), and hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) recipients with significant graft- versus-host disease GVHD.

NOXAFIL is the first and only antifungal approved for the prevention of IFIs caused by Aspergillus. NOXAFIL previously received a category 1 recommendation (highest rating) in the prevention of certain IFIs in high-risk cancer patients in the latest National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology,(2) issued in March 2007. Two landmark clinical studies demonstrating the efficacy of NOXAFIL prophylaxis were published in The New England Journal of Medicine in January 2007.(3,4)

IDSA Clinical Practice Guidelines are the recognized standard for clinical practice in the infectious diseases community and these latest guidelines are intended to summarize the current evidence for treatment of different forms of aspergillosis. Inclusion of NOXAFIL in the IDSA clinical practice guidelines continues to underscore the importance of mould-active antifungal prophylaxis in certain
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