New Data Show Ceftobiprole as Effective as Combination Therapy in Treating Patients With Complicated Skin Infections, Incl...( CHICAGO Sept. 18 /- Johnson & Joh...),Health

CHICAGO, Sept. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development, L.L.C., today announced that the investigational antibiotic ceftobiprole was as effective as commonly used combination therapy in treating patients with complicated skin infections caused by a broad spectrum of bacteria. Ceftobiprole also was found to clinically cure more than 90% of patients who had infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), including patients with complicated skin infections due to PVL- positive methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA).

These new data were presented in two posters at the 47th Annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC).

Ceftobiprole belongs to a class of antibacterial agents known as cephalosporins, which are used to treat serious, life-threatening infections caused by Gram-negative* and Gram-positive** bacteria. Ceftobiprole is licensed from, and is being co-developed with, Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd.

MRSA is a growing public health threat both in hospital and community settings and is becoming an increasingly common source of life-threatening infections in otherwise healthy people. Approximately 25% to 30% of the U.S. population carries S. aureus, the predominant bacterial species associated with skin infections. PVL, the abbreviation for Panton-Valentine Leukocidin, is a toxin that -- when found in S. aureus -- "lyses," or breaks open, white blood cells and tissue cells which are needed to help the body fight the infection.

Data presented demonstrated that 500 mg of ceftobiprole administered intravenously every eight hours (500 mg IV q8h) was as effective and well tolerated as the commonly used combination of 1 g of vancomycin administered intravenously every 12 hours (1 g IV q12h) plus 1 g of ceftazidime administered intravenously every eight hours (1 g IV q8h) in eradicating a broad spectrum of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria associated with complicate
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