Raritan, NJ – May 15, 2008 – The investigational use of doripenem for the treatment of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) was associated with shorter patient length of stay and reduced hospital resource utilization, according to new data published in the April edition of Clinical Therapeutics. The total number of hospital days and time on mechanical ventilation were significantly shorter for patients treated with doripenem compared to the commonly used imipenem-cilastatin in exploratory analyses from a Phase III pivotal trial evaluating the safety and effectiveness of doripenem in the treatment of VAP.

Mechanical ventilation often is initiated in hospital patients who are too weak to breathe on their own. VAP, an infection that usually develops 48-72 hours or more after mechanical ventilation is initiated, is the most common infection found in the intensive care units (ICU), accounting for 47% of all infections in the ICU. With 300,000 new cases in the U.S. each year and a cost of approximately $40,000 per case, VAP can have a serious impact on hospital resources.

Hospital resource utilization was collected as a part of a large, multinational, Phase III study conducted by Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development, L.L.C., (J&JPRD) that compared doripenem (500mg infused over four hours, three times a day) to imipenem-cilastatin (500mg infused over one hour, four times a day, or 1000mg infused over one hour, three times a day) among 501 patients with VAP. The median length of stay was significantly shorter in patients treated with doripenem compared to imipenem-cilastatin (22 days versus 27 days, respectively; p=0.0102) and time on mechanical ventilation was significantly shorter for patients treated with doripenem compared to imipenem-cilastatin (7 days versus 10 days, respectively; p=0.0338). Clinical cure rates were similar for both patients taking doripenem and imipenem-cilastatin.

“VAP remains a major challenge and is associated with substantial mortality, mobidity and cost. Few interventions have been shown to decrease the length of stay for patients with VAP,” said Andrew F. Shorr, MD, MPH, Associate Director, Pulmonary and Critical Care, Washington Hospital Center and Associate Professor of Medicine, Georgetown University. “Any new intervention that alters length of stay of this serious disease has the opportunity to improve outcomes and to limit overall costs given the average cost for treating VAP approaches $40,000 per patient.”