AstraZeneca Annual Report and Form 20-F Information 2008

Resistant bacterial infections

World demand for antibiotics remains high, due to escalating resistance and the increased risk of serious infections in both immuno-suppressed patients and ageing populations. Many bacterial infections currently have few satisfactory treatment options prompting demand for new and better therapies.

OUR FOCUS

Our key marketed products

Merrem/Meronem (meropenem) is a carbapenem antibiotic, which is active against most bacteria that cause serious infections in hospitalised patients. Merrem is the leading carbapenem and has a growing share of the intravenous antibiotic market because of its activity against bacteria resistant to many other agents. To meet the high and growing need for new and better therapies for resistant bacterial infections we have built an anti-bacterials discovery capability that places AstraZeneca among the industry leaders with the capability to create novel mechanism anti-bacterials.

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