Source: Hong Kong Med J  |  Posted 6 years ago

LAVAL, QC -- April 25, 2005 -- Ketek? (telithromycin), an antibiotic currently available to treat a variety of respiratory tract infections, is now approved by Health Canada as an effective five-day treatment for acute sinusitis.

"Ketek has proven to be a very effective drug to treat the majority of patients presenting with acute sinusitis," said Dr. Ian Witterick, otolaryngologist and a head and neck surgeon at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. "Up until now, we did not have a once-daily alternative with a targeted anti-bacterial spectrum that would treat a wide population base in a condensed, five-day time frame."

This new indication means that physicians now have another treatment option at their disposal for the benefit of patients who generally experience infected or inflamed sinuses, often resulting from complications of a common cold.

Persistence of symptoms beyond seven days is usually associated with an acute bacterial sinusitis infection requiring treatment with an antibiotic. Being able to prescribe a five-day treatment with Ketek, which has been shown to be an efficacious drug with an innovative mode of action, is a desirable option for many patients who often find it difficult to adhere to longer-term therapy.

"By using a targeted spectrum antibiotic such as Ketek, physicians increase the potential of curing their patients with the first course of treatment, avoiding the
over-use of other antibiotics that needlessly destroy other bacteria in the body," said Dr. Witterick.

Ketek effective, yet taken for a shorter duration
Clinical trials on the efficacy of once-daily Ketek for five days in the treatment of acute sinusitis demonstrated that it is as effective as other sinusitis treatments that need to be taken two or three times daily over a 10-day period. In a study involving more than 250 patients suffering from acute sinusitis, 85.2 per cent were cured with a once-a-day, five-day Ketek treatment, versus 82.0 per cent for those treated with the antibiotic cefuroxime axetil three times daily, given at its highest approved dosage.

Other indications
In addition to acute sinusitis, Ketek is indicated for the treatment of mild to moderate pneumonia (10-day treatment), lung infection in patients with chronic bronchitis (5-day treatment) and tonsillitis/pharyngitis (5-day treatment). In clinical trials, Ketek was shown to have a good tolerability profile. Adverse events, which included diarrhea, nausea, dizziness and vomiting, were transient and mild to moderate in nature. Only 3.2 per cent of Ketek-treated patients discontinued therapy due to adverse events. As with certain other antibiotics, concomitant administration of Ketek with other drugs having similar metabolism could result in drug-drug interactions.

SOURCE: sanofi-aventis