Good News for Patients with Strep

The Amoxicillin PULSYS Phase III Trialachieved its clinical goals in the treatmentof adults and adolescents withpharyngitis/tonsillitis due to Group Astreptococcal infections (strep throat).Advancis Pharmaceutical Corp enrolled620 adults and adolescents in a randomized,double-blind, multicenter, noninferioritytrial in November 2005. Researcherscompared the once-daily, 775-mg tablet of Amoxicillin PULSYS for 10days with 250 mg of penicillin VK 4 timesa day for 10 days. The primary desiredend point of the trial was bacterial eradicationat the "test-of-cure" visit forpatients who had completed the protocol,measured by throat cultures beforeand after treatment. Bacterial eradicationat the posttherapy test-of-cure visitamong the patients who had completedthe protocol was 85% in the AmoxicillinPULSYS group and 83.4% with penicillin.Stan L. Block, MD, an investigator in thestudy and a professor of clinical pediatricsnoted, "The outcomes wereachieved through a single-daily-doseadministration, a significant factor withthe potential to positively impact patientcompliance."

Ms. Farley is a freelance medicalwriter based in Wakefield, RI.