NORTH CHICAGO, Ill. -- A division of Abbott Laboratories Tuesday announced a new drug to treat infant respiratory distress syndrome, one of the leading killers of premature babies.
Ross Laboratories introduced Survanta, a surfactant extracted from cow lungs.
About 50,000 premature infants each year are born before their bodies have developed the ability to produce surfactant, the foamy substance that coats the inside of the lungs and keeps them from collapsing when the infant exhales, Abbott said. This condition is called respiratory distress syndrome, or hyaline membrane disease.
Survanta, which is administered through a breathing tube into the lungs, furnishes the missing surfactant, allowing premature infants to breathe more normally.
The pharmaceutical manufacurer said surfactant replacement therapy has been credited with reducing the U.S. infant mortality rate from 9.7 to 9.1 per 1,000 live births since 1989.
'We see a dramatic improvement in pulmonary function almost immediately after administering Survanta,' said Dr. Ronald E. Hoekstra, staff neonatologist at Children's Medical Center in Minneapolis, who participated in the clinical investigations of Survanta.
'We are able to begin weaning the babies from ventilator support within minutes.'
Until now, doctors traditionally have treated the disorder with mechanical ventilation, which can lead to blindness, retardation, cerebral palsy, and death.
Abbott stock was unchanged at $51.675 a share at midday Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.
Abbott said one study determined Survanta reduced treatment costs for critically ill infants by nearly $4,000 per survivor through the first 28 days of life over ventilator therapy.
Abbott said Survanta was tested at 40 medical centers nationwide. The tests involved nearly 1,700 infants and another 7,000 infants received the drug under an Federal Drug Administration program that makes drugs available to the critically ill while those drugs still are being tested.
When used as a preventive measure, the incidence of RDS in Survanta- treated infants has been reduced by up to 70 percent, Abbott said. Mortality from RDS has been reduced by up to 87 percent and when used as a rescue treatment for infants suffering from RDS, Survanta reduced deaths due to RDS by up to 68 percent, the drugmaker said.
Abbott said though Survanta causes some slowing of the heartbeat and oxygen desaturation while it is being administered, no long-term complications have been detected.
