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I have reported on Ketek several times before. I personally think new antibiotics are desperately needed, but I also think care should be exercised in prescribing new drugs. As always, you have to weight the benefits vs the potential downside. It seems the marketing alliance between Sanofi and Astellas Pharma has been discontinued.

PharmaLive: Discontinuation of Marketing Alliance on Ketolide Antibiotics, “Ketek Tablets 300 mg” :

After Oct. 1, 2006, Sanofi will be the sole marketer in Japan. While I’m not privy to any specific information, it would appear to me that maybe Astellas has second thoughts about being associated with Ketek in Japan.

The same announcement (pdf) is also on the Astellas website. What is interesting to me is what it doesn’t say. No reason is given and only the 300 mg tablet is listed.

For those who may not have been paying attention, Astellas Pharma is a large Japanese pharmaceutical company formed in 2005 by the merger of Fujisawa Pharmaceutical and Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical.

Technorati Tags: Ketek, ketolide antibiotic, antibiotics, Sanofi-Aventis, telithromycin

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