Gilead CF Drug Passes Trial

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GILD]]) said today its inhalable antibiotic for cystic fibrosis beat a rival drug in a head-to-head clinical trial. The Gilead treatment, aztreonam lysine, was compared with Novartis’ inhalable antibiotic, tobramycin (Tobi), in 273 patients, most of whom had already gotten three cycles of the Novartis drug in the year before they entered the study. Researchers found that the Gilead treatment offered an 8.35 percent improvement on FEV1 scores, a measurement of how forcefully patients can blow air out of their lungs in one second. That was a statistically significant benefit when compared to patients who got another round of the competing drug, Gilead said. The Gilead drug won FDA approval in February.

Author: Luke Timmerman

Luke is an award-winning journalist specializing in life sciences. He has served as national biotechnology editor for Xconomy and national biotechnology reporter for Bloomberg News. Luke got started covering life sciences at The Seattle Times, where he was the lead reporter on an investigation of doctors who leaked confidential information about clinical trials to investors. The story won the Scripps Howard National Journalism Award and several other national prizes. Luke holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and during the 2005-2006 academic year, he was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT.