An antibiotic, Ketek, had side effects and multiple problems with its clinical trials, including outright fraud.
To fix these problems, Ketek grapples onto a second spot inside the bacteria, so bacteria can no longer escape the drug with a single mutation.
Abbott was developing a drug similar to Ketek, but it was put on the back burner so the company could focus on other, more promising leads.
To fix these problems, Ketek grapples onto a second spot inside the bacteria, so the bugs can no longer escape the drug with a single mutation.
Wyeth's Tygacil and Sanofi-Aventis ' Ketek have been touted as new classes, and though the distinction can be argued, both were definitely better at fighting resistant bugs.
Aventis' pill, Ketek, does represent a significant advance, but some doctors argue that it isn't that new, and some stock analysts fear that labeling issues could cut the drug's sales.
For medicines ranging from Pfizer's antipsychotic Geodon to Ketek, an antibiotic from Sanofi-Aventis (nyse: SNY - news - people ), such problems have led to regulatory delays--although both were eventually approved.
But that was before Vioxx (withdrawn because of heart attacks) and Ketek (severely restricted because of liver side effects) and a series of other controversies that resulted in FDA brass being called in front of Congress.
Ketek is a modified version of a commonly used class of antibiotics, called macrolides, which includes Pfizer 's (nyse: PFE - news - people ) Zithromax and Abbott Laboratories ' (nyse: ABT - news - people ) Biaxin.
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