WYETH RELEASES DATA ON TYGACIL FOR CAP

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals has presented data from Phase III studies of Tygacil in patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), which is defined as pneumonia not acquired in a hospital or long-term care facility. CAP affects approximately 5.6 million Americans each year.

According to the integrated data from two investigational clinical studies that included 846 patients, Tygacil cured 89.7 percent of patients hospitalized with CAP compared with levofloxacin -- an existing treatment option for CAP -- which cured 86.3 percent of studied patients. The difference between these cure rates is not statistically significant. Additional data showed that the length of hospital stay for patients treated with Tygacil was comparable to levofloxacin. The length of stay for both treatment groups totaled 6.3 days and the discontinuation rates due to adverse events for both drugs were similar.

Wyeth plans to file applications for this indication in 2007. Tygacil has been approved in 40 countries, including the United States, Canada and the European Union, for the treatment of complicated intra-abdominal infections and complicated skin and skin structure infections.

The drug was approved in the U.S. in 2005. Tygacil, a first-in-class glycylcycline, is an antibiotic with an expanded broad spectrum of in vitro activity against Gram positives, Gram negatives, anaerobes, methicillin-resistant and susceptible Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin-resistant enterococci. The drug is unaffected by extended-spectrum beta lactamases.