Shorter hospitalization period thanks to effective treatment

LEVERKUSEN, April 30, 2002 – The intravenous (i.v.) presentation of Bayer’s antibiotic Avalox® (moxifloxacin) has now been registered in Germany. This means that a new, highly effective therapeutic option, capable of shortening the period of hospitalization and thus also noticeably reducing the cost of treatment, is now available for the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia.

Pneumonia is the most common cause of morbidity and mortality in infectious diseases. In Germany, 350,000 to 500,000 individuals develop pneumonia each year, and 175,000 patients (about 35 percent of all cases) require hospital treatment as a consequence.

A cost/benefit analysis presented at the 12th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Milan, Italy, showed that first-line use of Avalox® i.v. can also markedly reduce the cost of treatment. For example, according to the model calculation, in Germany EUR 266 and in France EUR 381 could be saved per patient thanks to the shorter duration of hospitalization. “Use of Avalox® i.v. effectively lowered the overall cost of treatment,” said Jeremy Chancellor, Head of the independent evaluating institute “Innovus Research”, United Kingdom. “The cost/benefit analysis presented in Milan once again confirms that innovative research is beneficial from an overall economic perspective as well. We are convinced that Avalox® i.v. will be as well accepted by doctors as the tablet presentation, which has now been used to treat more than 12 million patients around the world,” said Dr. Wolfgang Plischke, General Manager of Bayer AG’s Pharmaceuticals Business Group.

Avalox® (Avelox® outside Germany) has been on the market since 1999 and has now been launched in more than 70 countries. Avelox® i.v. was registered in the United States in late 2001. The intravenous presentation is expected to achieve sales of EUR 250 million by 2008.

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