ROCHE PROMOTING ROCEPHIN AS "IDEALLY SUITED FOR OUTPATIENT USE"

Roche's Rocepin launch to trade on Jan. 28 describes the drug as a cost containment injectable which is "ideally suited for outpatient use." In its introductory letter to whslrs., Roche noted that "once-a-day Rocephin (ceftriaxone sodium), either I.V. or I.M., is ideally suited for outpatient use. The introduction of once-a-day, extended spectrum Rocephin may enable physicians and hospital pharmacists to meet most -- if not all -- of their cephalosporin needs." In a Jan. 24 press package on the introduction, Roche quoted a statement by Harvard Medical School Prof. Robert Moellering, MD, that Rocephin "penetrates well into tissues and extravascular fluids, including the cerebrospinal fluid. Given the pressures for cost-containment that are now a major part of hospital life in the U.S. and other countries, drugs with favorable pharmacokinetic properties should make it possible to realize considerable savings related to decreases in costs of administration. Once-daily administration also raises the possibility that agents such as ceftriaxone can also be used for outpatient therapy." There are at least two cost analyses of the third generation antibiotic in the medical literature. In discussing the cost savings for hospitals from once-a-day antibiotic dosing, Roche pointed to a study published in the Oct. 19 American Journal of Medicine which found that ". . . sthe cost containment potential for our 10 study hospitals . . . adjusted for hospital size (small, medium, and large) and exact number of beds in each hospital (5,379 total) would range from $400,000 if all achieved a 25% reduction in cephalosporin doses to $1.2 mil. if a 75% dosage reduction was achieved." Roche also emphasized the potential for the once-a-day dosing to "reduce the length of hospital stays by enabling some patients who require parenteral therapy to be treated on an outpatient basis." The company cited another study also published in the Oct. 19 American Journal of Medicine entitled "Outpatient Use of Ceftriaxone: A Cost-Benefit Analysis" as finding that "at an estimated rate of $150.00 per day per hospital bed, the 2,409 days of outpatient intravenous therapy (with Rocephin) saved a total of $361,350 in hospitalization costs for room and board alone." Roche will supply Rocephin as a sterile crystalline powder in glass vials and piggyback bottles. Automatic introductory shipments of the vials begin the week of Feb. 4. The price to whslrs. for a box of 10 vials will be: 250 mg - $72.50; 500 mg - $125; 1 gm - $299.50; 2 gm - $449.