One Big Antibiotic Dose Fights MRSA, Study Says - WSJ.com.
Targanta's oritavancin has had a troubled history. It was developed by Eli Lilly & Co. in the 1990s, but never reached the market, partly because of concern over side effects. Targanta says it has resolved those issues. It licensed the drug in 2005, applied for approval from the Food and Drug Administration earlier this year, and says it expects a decision in December. Targanta's submission to the FDA was based on a normal dose of 200 milligrams per day, for up to a week. But in the new study, the company compared that treatment against one huge dose of 1,200 milligrams, given all at once in a hospital. Patients were kept in the dark about what group they were in. The results were similar: After three weeks, about 72% of the day-dose patients, and 82% of the one-big-dose patients, saw a cure or significant improvement. Each group only included about 76 patients, meaning the results are preliminary. Targanta says it's working on a bigger, more reliable study.
