PFIZER'S CEFOBID CAN REDUCE AVERAGE HOSPITAL ANTIBIOTIC TREATMENT ONE DAY, COMPANY SPONSORED STUDY MAINTAINS; FIRM WILL PROVIDE FOR USE BEYOND DRG ALLOWANCE

Pfizer's Cefobid (cefoperazone) may reduce the average length of hospital antibiotic treatment by one day compared to other injectable antibiotics, according to a study conducted by the consulting firm Pracon for Pfizer. According to the study, distributed by Pfizer as part of a promotion campaign to hospitals unveiled at a Dec. 17 press conference, interim results show that Cefobid "may reduce the length of antibiotic therapy by an average of one day." The firm added that "translated into hospital costs, this could result in an average savings of $481 per patient." The study compared the costs of Cefobid against other intravenous antibiotics and involved a total of 462 patients (223 cefoperazone and 239 controls). The cost comparison data is the basis for Pfizer's new hospital promotion in which the firm will replace at no charge Cefobid supplies used in treating a patient beyond the diagnosis related group (DRG) length of stay allowance established under the Medicare prospective payment system. The promotion also begins just as Merck is beginning to distribute its braod spectrum hospital product Primaxin. The firm is promoting Primaxin's cost saving potential to hospitals as a replacement for combo therapies including cephalosporins and other antibiotics. The Pracon study analyzed costs on the basis of the following parameters: cost of product, cost of labor and materials associated with administration, laboratory tests, length of therapy, and number of doses required in a 24-hour period. Also providing a basis for the replacement guarantee, Pfizer said, is efficacy data from a recently completed 455 patient multicenter trial as well as an estimated 4 mil. patient days of use since the product was introduced in 1982. Explaining the guarantee, Pfizer said that "if a patient's course of Cefobid therapy extends beyond the DRG length-of-stay allowance, the Pfizer subsidiary, Roerig, will replace, at no charge to the hospital, the Cefobid used to complete the course of therapy up to the outlier period." Roerig Medical Director Allen Meisel, MD, explained that the company's action is a "direct response to the fiscal pressures that have been placed upon our nation's hospitals to be more cost effective . . . The pharmaceutical industry can, indeed must, be responsive to these new realities." Pfizer/Roerig asserted that the "Cefobid guarantee is particularly significant to hospitals that depend primarily upon Medicare payments. The nation's hospitals receive approximately half of their income from this source." He explained that under the DRG system, "once a patient's length of stay has passed the allowance, coverage ceases until the outlier phase," at which time coverage resumes at 60% of the hospital's costs. The number of uncovered days ranges from 9 to 18, depending on the DRG. The guarantee applies to "approved infections when due to susceptible strains of indicated organisms and includes the most common DRG categories associated with pneumonia and respiratory tract infections, biliary tract infections, cellulitis, infections of the kidney, urinary tract, female or reproductive organs, septicemia, post-operative and post-traumatic infections, fever of unknown origin and other infections," the firm stated. Pfizer/Roerig said that the Cefobid guarantee applies to all patients whose costs of hospitalization are reimbursed under a DRG-based prospective payment system. After Cefobid therapy is completed, the hospital must fill out a program patient data from and send it to the Roerig/Pfizer distribution center. The form requires the following information: length of therapy, days beyond DRG allowance (up to the outlier threshold), and pharmacist/medical records certification. After receiving the summary claim form, the distribution center will ship Cefobid directly to the hospital.