Bayer Schering Pharma marks 20 years of fighting infections in Asia Pacific

If in certain cases countries including the Philippines take the cue from other drug regulatory agencies in Europe or United States in approving drug applications, it was entirely different in the case of this broad-spectrum antibiotic.

Twenty years ago, the Philippines was the first country to approve Ciprofloxacin, an antibiotic drug discovered by Bayer in 1981. It was also the first to launch this blockbuster antibiotic worldwide in 1987.

To date, close to 400 million patients have been treated with Ciprofloxacin and has continued to be a reliable ally for healthcare professionals in combating various types of bacterial infections. It also has extensively been studied and documented by almost 37,000 publications across the globe.

To celebrate the two decades of this broad spectrum antibiotic in the Philippines and in Asia Pacific, Bayer Schering Pharma in partnership with the Philippine College of Surgeons hosted a symposium recently entitled Ciprofloxacin: Twenty years of power and confidence.” The event brought together over 350 top doctors and healthcare professionals from all over the region.

Bayer Schering Pharma general manager Marios Kosmidis said the milestone of Ciprofloxacin is a testament to the benefit that the antibiotic brings to millions of patients. “Through all this, Ciprofloxacin has gained the trust and confidence of the people worldwide and continues to be a very beautiful armamentarium most especially in serious hospital bacterial infections. “

During the symposium, experts in the field of infectious medicine shared experiences and studies about Ciprofloxacin’s efficacy and reliability. Professor Axel Dalhoff from the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein in Germany talked about how Ciprofloxacin’s came to be and its contribution to treatment of infections.

“For 20 years, it has been used to treat more than 386 million patients, thereof, 15 million patients intravenously. It is highly recommended by experts as effective anti-infective drug which has been approved to treat 14 types of infections like urinary tract infection. Ciprofloxacin was found to be effective, safe and used as a gold standard by experts,” said Dalhoff.

In the Philippines, more than seven million outpatients, one million emergency patients and more than 100,000 patients admitted in the hospitals suffered from urinary tract infections. Dr. Dennis P. Serrano from the Philippine General Hospital said an antibiotic such as Ciprofloxacin is effective in the treatment of serious bacterial urinary tract infections (UTI). “Ciprofloxacin in serious UTI has an 84 percent bacteriological cure rate and 90 percent eradication rate for E.coli and K. pneumoniae organisms in patients,” said Dr. Serrano.

An exhibit was also put up to showcase the history and milestones of Ciprofloxacin. Also present during the event were Mr. Ceasar Igual, BSP Director for Primary Care, Dr. Rey Melchor Santos, President of the Philippine College of Surgeons, Dr. Leopold Simons, Global Brand Manager of Ciprofloxacin, Bayer HealthCare AG and Mr. Winston Xue, Anti-Infective Head, Primary Care of BSP Asia Pacific.