Executive Summary

LYPHOMED WILL MARKET HOECHST's THIRD GENERATION CEPHALOSPORIN CEFODIZIME in the U.S. as a brandname product. The exclusive marketing agreement for cefodizime fits into LyphoMed's long term strategy of moving into proprietary Rx product lines from its base in the hospital generics and nutritionals business. Including cefodizime, LyphoMed now has at least six drugs in development that, once approved, will be marketed as branded products. LyphoMed already markets Pentam (pentamadine) for pneumocystis carinii as a branded product. LyphoMed said it will file an NDA "based on extensive German and Japanese clinical data establishing cefodizime's safety and clinical efficacy." In addition, the company plans to conduct a "multi-center Phase III clinical study in the U.S. as a supplement to the NDA." Cefodizime is covered by a U.S. patent expiring in July 1998, LyphoMed says. Hoechst-Roussel already markets a third-generation cephalosporin product in the U.S., Claforan (cefotaxime). In a related announcement, LyphoMed also reported that it had extended its agreement with Medco Research covering Adenocard (adenosine) as an adjuvant in the treatment of brain tumors. The original agreement between the two companies covered use of Adenocard in supraventricular tachycardia only. An early clinical study at Duke University to investigate Adenocard's usefulness in brain tumors "was commenced recently," LypoMed reported.