Advanced, Abbott to submit application for new antibiotic

WOODRIDGE, Ill. Advanced Life Sciences is preparing to submit a new drug application for its antibiotic cethromycin, which it is developing with Abbott Laboratories.

The drug is used for the treatment of community acquired pneumonia and other respiratory tract infections. The drug recently completed six phase III clinical trials. The current treatments for community acquired pneumonia are zithromax and biaxin. These drugs though have shown bacterial resistance. Unlike current treatments which are a drug class known as macrolides, cethromycin is a ketolide and will fight the bacterial resistance.

In addition to treating community acquired pneumonia, cethromycin was shown to be 100 percent effective in preventing inhalation anthrax post-exposure in a study as compared to the current standard of care, cipro which demonstrated 90 percent protection. Community acquired pneumonia is the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S.

Advanced Life Sciences expects to file for regulatory approval of the drug during the first half of this year and to begin selling the medicine in 2009.