Hospira receives FDA approval for Azithromycin for injection

Hospira, Inc has announced it has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for a 500 mg vial of azithromycin for injection in the ADD-Vantage System.

The anti-infective medication is a generic version of Pfizer's Zithromax for injection. U.S. sales of generic and name-brand azithromycin for injection were approximately $40 million in 2008.

ADD-Vantage is a specially-designed, two-part system that does not require clinicians to use a needle and syringe to mix the drug and the solution. This reduces the risk of accidental needlesticks, enhances workflow and can result in less waste due to stability and shelf-life factors.

"Hospira is the first company to offer azithromycin in an advanced drug delivery system," said Joshua Gordon, vice president, Specialty Pharmaceuticals, Hospira. "This reinforces Hospira's commitment to healthcare worker safety, as well as to providing safe and effective generic drugs to patients."

Hospira's specialty injectable pharmaceuticals (SIP) offering includes approximately 200 generic injectable drugs in many dosages and formulations. In addition, many of its products are available in popular differentiated formats, several of which are proprietary, such as its ADD-Vantage System and iSecure prefilled syringes. Therapeutic areas include anesthesia, anti-infectives, analgesics, cardiovascular, oncology, emergency and other areas. Hospira has approximately 25 generic drugs scheduled to launch in various regions around the world in 2009 and 2010.