New Macrolide Antibiotics

Excerpt

To the Editors: Recently, Biaxin (Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago, Illinois), a brand of clarithromycin, has been heavily promoted for common respiratory infections because it covers Haemophilus influenzae as well as Streptococcus pneumoniae and Mycoplasma pneumoniae. Abbott's efficacy claim is supported almost entirely by data either on file with the company or published in company-sponsored symposia.

Unfortunately, Dr. Neu (1), in his editorial on the new macrolides, never evaluates their efficacy relative to currently available (and much cheaper) treatments for H. influenzae. Instead, he limits his discussion to a brief comparison of azithromycin and clarithromycin with erythromycin, an agent known to