Broad Spectrum Antibiotic Available for Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria
22 Jul 2006
Tygacil (tigecycline)is a new, expanded broad-spectrum IV antibiotic that can be used for the treatment of a wide range of infections including those caused by antibiotic resistant bacteria such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
It will be available in the UK from today. Availability of this new antibiotic comes at a time when the need for effective new treatments is greater than ever and clinicians are running out of options.
"Difficult to treat, antibiotic-resistant and often life-threatening infections are a growing problem in the UK, costing the NHS an estimated additional £1 billion annually," says Dr Robert Masterton, Executive Medical Director and Consultant Microbiologist, NHS Ayrshire & Arran, "Even more worrying has been the emergence of the organisms commonly called 'superbugs' – those very worrying bacteria that have become resistant to a large number and in some cases all available antibiotics.
Add to this the diminishing development of new antibiotics in the last 20 years and we could soon see a return to the Florence Nightingale era where infections caused more death than bullets because there were no effective drugs to treat these diseases. The introduction of tigecycline in the UK comes at absolutely the right time and will provide a vital new weapon in the fight against infection."
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