Pfizer
today officially launched Zavicefta® a novel combination antibiotic developed
to treat serious Gram-negative bacterial infections requiring hospitalisation,
in Malaysia.
Zavicefta® is a combination of ceftazidime, a third-generation antipseudomonal cephalosporin and avibactam, a beta-lactamase inhibitor.
Zavicefta® has a well-established efficacy and safety profile.
In Malaysia,
Zavicefta® is indicated for the treatment of adults 18 years and above with
complicated intra-abdominal infection (cIAI) in combination with metronidazole,
complicated urinary tract infection (cUTI) including pyelonephritis, and
Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia (HAP), including Ventilator Associated Pneumonia
(VAP).
“The
launch of Zavicefta® reaffirms Pfizer’s commitment to addressing the threat of
antimicrobial resistance through antibiotics research and development of a more
robust antibiotics pipeline. To help patients facing serious infectious
diseases, Zavicefta® was developed to address difficult-to-treat Gram-negative
bacteria, many of which have become increasingly resistant to currently available
antibiotics,” said Dr Jerusha
Naidoo, Country Medical Director for Malaysia at Pfizer.
“Early
adequate antibiotic therapy is crucial for patients with serious Gram-negative
infections, to avoid increased healthcare utilisation, cost and mortality. We
hope Malaysians will be able to benefit from Zavicefta® when needed,” she
added. Failure to treat early and appropriately has been associated with poor
outcomes in patients with serious Gram-negative infections, although early
treatment must consider patient risk factors as well as local epidemiology.
“Today,
antimicrobial resistance is one of the biggest threats to global health, impacting
our ability to treat serious infections and provide standard medical procedures,
and influencing public healthcare outcomes and costs. Antimicrobial medicines,
especially antibiotics, are among the most precious medical resources the world
has ever known, but more and more incidents of resistant infections are being
reported, including by Gram-negative bacteria,” commented Dato' Dr Mahiran
Mustafa, Consultant Infectious Disease Physician and National Head, Infectious
Disease Discipline, Ministry of Health Malaysia.
She said all stakeholders will need to
play their part if there is to be any significant headway in mitigating the
threat of antimicrobial resistance.
“Healthcare providers will need to
prescribe antibiotics appropriately and adequately, while members of the public
will need to use antibiotics responsibly. The efforts of the pharmaceutical
industry is key and we appreciate the leading role Pfizer plays in global antimicrobial
R&D and stewardship.”
Meanwhile,
infectious disease physician Dr Asok Kurup shared, “For multifactorial reasons
including inappropriate antibiotic use and poor infection control standards,
antibiotic resistance has become a major threat in healthcare settings
universally, and our region is not spared.
Gram-negative bacteria in particular
are becoming more resistant not only to typical antibiotics but also
broad-spectrum ones like Carbapenems. Infections implicating these multidrug
resistant organisms (MDRO) are associated with higher morbidity, mortality and
cost compared with susceptible infections. Moreover, there is an imperative to
treat these infections early to prevent adverse outcomes.
Up until recently,
managing these difficult to treat infections have been very challenging given
inadequacies of available therapeutic agents, or toxicities.
Pfizer’s commitment to tackling
antimicrobial resistance
Pfizer
takes a multi-pronged approach to tackling antimicrobial resistance, developing
vaccines that help prevent infections and reducing the need for antibiotics
that may result in resistant strains, while also actively developing
anti-infectives and working with partners to close critical prevention and
treatment gaps in infectious disease around the globe.
In addition, Pfizer offers
one of the largest and most accessible AMR surveillance programmes in the
world, called the Antimicrobial Testing Leadership and Surveillance (ATLAS)
database – the only platform that provides public access to both antifungal and
antibacterial resistance data through a single resource, enabling decision
makers to adapt stewardship and infection control and prevention programmes.
Pfizer is also one of the leading contributors to the AMR Action Fund, a collaboration
among more than 20 biopharmaceutical companies that aims to bring 2-4 new
antibiotics to patients by 2030 through collaboration between pharmaceutical
companies, philanthropies, development banks and multilateral organisations.
For more information on Pfizer's antimicrobial stewardship and efforts to improve the antibiotics pipeline,
Website : https://www.pfizer.com/science/therapeutic-areas/anti-infectives
Pfizer Malaysia Zavicefta Prescribing
Information, 1220
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