( -- Large multi-year multi-hospital ret...)Preterm Infants with Respiratory Distress Syndrome: Incidence Rates,of Death when Treated with Surfactant Replacement Therapies,Health

NAPA, Calif. and PARMA, Italy, May 07, 2007 /PRNewswire/ -- Data presented today at the Pediatric Academic Societies' Annual Meeting demonstrate that premature infants with neonatal Respiratory Distress Syndrome (RDS) have a nearly 20% better chance of survival if they are treated with Curosurf(R) (poractant alfa) Intratracheal Suspension rather than either of two competing surfactant therapies. "Differences in Mortality Among Infants Treated with Three Different Natural Surfactants for Respiratory Distress Syndrome (RDS)," a retrospective analysis of a very large database maintained by Premier Inc., considered specific procedures and clinical outcomes for 24,883 premature infants treated for RDS at 191 U.S. hospitals from January 2003 to June 2006. The alternative surfactant therapies over which Curosurf(R) Intratracheal Suspension showed a nearly 20% mortality advantage are Survanta(R) (beractant) and Infasurf(R) (calfactant). Full disclosure of the data are being held pending publication.

Jatinder J. Bhatia, MD, Professor and Chief, Section of Neonatology in the Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Georgia, commented, "Clinicians have long needed a robust basis upon which to choose surfactant therapies for premature babies suffering form RDS. Even though natural surfactants have appeared for some time to perform better than synthetic ones, and despite the significant differences in mortality that randomized trials have suggested among the three commonly available natural surfactants, there has been no single study comparing the mortality rates of all three natural surfactants."

According to Dr. Bhatia, "The present research analyzes summary data from an extensive administrative datab
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