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Source: http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-persp...an-oct-10-2019
Stewardship / Resistance Scan for Oct 10, 2019
Price cut demand for MDR-TB drug; ICU infections in Europe
Filed Under:
Antimicrobial Stewardship; Tuberculosis
MSF calls for price cut on multidrug-resistant TB drug
Doctors Without Borders/M?decins sans Fronti?res (MSF) is calling on drug maker Johnson & Johnson to lower the price of bedaquilin, an oral medication for the treatment of patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB).
Arguing that the drug was developed and tested in collaboration with the TB research community and treatment providers like MSF, using taxpayer money and contributions from other donors, the medical humanitarian organization is demanding that Johnson & Johnson—which owns the patent on bedaquiline—cut the price to $1 a day, roughly half of what the company currently charges.
"Those who contributed to bedaquiline's development should have a say in how the drug is priced," Sharonann Lynch, HIV and TB policy advisor for MSF's Access Campaign, said in a press release. "We will not back down until the price of bedaquiline is brought down."
Bedaquiline is a core drug in the all-oral treatment regimen currently recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for patients with MDR-TB. The previous regimen included injectable drugs associated with serious side effects and increasing treatment failure. In a move that was widely hailed by MSF and other TB advocacy and global health groups, the WHO added bedaquiline as a first-line treatment in 2018, but MSF says fewer than 12,000 people have been treated with a regimen including bedaquiline since that change was made.
MSF says the lowest price Johnson & Johnson charges for 20 months of bedaquiline is nearly $1,200, or $2 per day, a price the organization believes is preventing scale-up of the drug in countries struggling with MDR-TB epidemics.
Oct 10 MSF press release
European report highlights resistance levels in ICU-associated infections
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) today issued a new report highlighting the widespread problem of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) in European intensive care units (ICUs).
The report, based on 2017 data submitted to the European Surveillance System by 14 European Union/European Economic Activity (EU/EEA) countries, shows that 11,787 (8.3%) of the 142,805 patients who stayed in an ICU for more than 2 days presented with at least one HAI.
Documented HAIs included 8,983 cases of pneumonia, 5,298 cases of bloodstream infection (BSI), and 1,274 urinary tract infections (UTIs). Ninety-seven percent of pneumonia cases were associated with intubation, 37% of BSIs were catheter related, and 98% of UTIs were linked to a urinary catheter. The most frequently isolated pathogens were Pseudomonas aeruginosa in pneumonia episodes, coagulase-negative staphylococci in BSIs, and Escherichia coli in UTIs.
Among the bacteria associated with ICU-acquired HAIs, 23.5% of Staphylococcus aureus isolates were oxacillin-resistant; 9.5% of Enterococcus isolates were vancomycin-resistant; 26.5% of P aeruginosa isolates were ceftazidime-resistant; and 15.9%, 39.9%, and 34.3% of E coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Enterobacter isolates, respectively, showed resistance to third-generation cephalosporins. Carbapenem resistance was reported in 15.2% of Klebsiella isolates, 25.9% of P aeruginosa isolates, 63.9% of Acinetobacter baumannii isolates, 1.7% of Enterobacter isolates, and 0.8% of E coli isolates.
"This report confirms the importance of antimicrobial resistance in gram-negative bacteria in ICUs in the EU/EEA in 2017, with resistance percentages being comparable to the levels reported in previous years," the ECDC said in the report. "The high percentages of resistance to carbapenems of P. aeruginosa, A. baumannii and K pneumoniae isolates reflect the challenges of treatment of ICU patients, a highly vulnerable patient population."
Oct 10 ECDC report
Stewardship / Resistance Scan for Oct 10, 2019
Price cut demand for MDR-TB drug; ICU infections in Europe
Filed Under:
Antimicrobial Stewardship; Tuberculosis
MSF calls for price cut on multidrug-resistant TB drug
Doctors Without Borders/M?decins sans Fronti?res (MSF) is calling on drug maker Johnson & Johnson to lower the price of bedaquilin, an oral medication for the treatment of patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB).
Arguing that the drug was developed and tested in collaboration with the TB research community and treatment providers like MSF, using taxpayer money and contributions from other donors, the medical humanitarian organization is demanding that Johnson & Johnson—which owns the patent on bedaquiline—cut the price to $1 a day, roughly half of what the company currently charges.
"Those who contributed to bedaquiline's development should have a say in how the drug is priced," Sharonann Lynch, HIV and TB policy advisor for MSF's Access Campaign, said in a press release. "We will not back down until the price of bedaquiline is brought down."
Bedaquiline is a core drug in the all-oral treatment regimen currently recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for patients with MDR-TB. The previous regimen included injectable drugs associated with serious side effects and increasing treatment failure. In a move that was widely hailed by MSF and other TB advocacy and global health groups, the WHO added bedaquiline as a first-line treatment in 2018, but MSF says fewer than 12,000 people have been treated with a regimen including bedaquiline since that change was made.
MSF says the lowest price Johnson & Johnson charges for 20 months of bedaquiline is nearly $1,200, or $2 per day, a price the organization believes is preventing scale-up of the drug in countries struggling with MDR-TB epidemics.
Oct 10 MSF press release
European report highlights resistance levels in ICU-associated infections
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) today issued a new report highlighting the widespread problem of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) in European intensive care units (ICUs).
The report, based on 2017 data submitted to the European Surveillance System by 14 European Union/European Economic Activity (EU/EEA) countries, shows that 11,787 (8.3%) of the 142,805 patients who stayed in an ICU for more than 2 days presented with at least one HAI.
Documented HAIs included 8,983 cases of pneumonia, 5,298 cases of bloodstream infection (BSI), and 1,274 urinary tract infections (UTIs). Ninety-seven percent of pneumonia cases were associated with intubation, 37% of BSIs were catheter related, and 98% of UTIs were linked to a urinary catheter. The most frequently isolated pathogens were Pseudomonas aeruginosa in pneumonia episodes, coagulase-negative staphylococci in BSIs, and Escherichia coli in UTIs.
Among the bacteria associated with ICU-acquired HAIs, 23.5% of Staphylococcus aureus isolates were oxacillin-resistant; 9.5% of Enterococcus isolates were vancomycin-resistant; 26.5% of P aeruginosa isolates were ceftazidime-resistant; and 15.9%, 39.9%, and 34.3% of E coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Enterobacter isolates, respectively, showed resistance to third-generation cephalosporins. Carbapenem resistance was reported in 15.2% of Klebsiella isolates, 25.9% of P aeruginosa isolates, 63.9% of Acinetobacter baumannii isolates, 1.7% of Enterobacter isolates, and 0.8% of E coli isolates.
"This report confirms the importance of antimicrobial resistance in gram-negative bacteria in ICUs in the EU/EEA in 2017, with resistance percentages being comparable to the levels reported in previous years," the ECDC said in the report. "The high percentages of resistance to carbapenems of P. aeruginosa, A. baumannii and K pneumoniae isolates reflect the challenges of treatment of ICU patients, a highly vulnerable patient population."
Oct 10 ECDC report