Allergan Presents Data Highlighting Risk Factors For CRE Infections

(RTTNews) - Allergan plc (AGN) said it has presented new data identifying hospitalized patients with serious infections due to Enterobactericaeae, who are at greater risk for having carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae or CRE infections. Results were presented at IDWeek 2016 in New Orleans.

The study was given as an oral presentation titled, "Identification of Patients at Greatest Risk for Carbapenem Resistance in Patients with Serious Hospital-Onset Infections Due to Enterobacteriaceae Species".

The study evaluated 10,634 U.S. hospitalized patients in the Premier hospital database between January 2011 and December 2014 with invasive hospital-onset infections due to Enterobacteriaceae.

The overall prevalence of CRE in this total population was 4.5 percent. Enterobacteriaceae were considered carbapenem-resistant if documented as nonsusceptible to meropenem, imipenem, doripenem or ertapenem.

David Nicholson, Chief R&D Officer, Allergan said, "The increasing prevalence of difficult-to-treat infections—including those caused by CRE— represents a significant challenge to physicians, as certain Gram-negative bacteria have become resistant to nearly all treatments currently available for patients. These results are an important addition to the growing body of knowledge for the healthcare community on how to make empiric treatment decisions for these patients."

The prevalence of hospital-onset infections due to CRE has increased in recent years. As such, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has identified CRE as one of the three most urgent public health threats.