Ulcerative Colitis

XIFAXAN C.

difficile-Associated Diarrhea (CDAD) XIFAXAN (rifaximin), dosed 400 mg three times daily, is being investigated in a vancomycin comparator, 300-subject Phase III trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of XIFAXAN for the treatment of CDAD.

Research by Ciaran Kelly, MD, Harvard School of Medicine; Dan Gerding, Hines VA Hospital and other investigators provides the theoretical basis for the development of XIFAXAN as a treatment for CDAD.

Poster presentations of recent preclinical work by Kelly and Gerding were presented December 16-19, 2005 at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) in Washington, D.C.

Results of a hamster model study of CDAD, conducted by Kelly, demonstrated that rifaximin-treated and vancomycin-treated, CDAD-challenged animals achieved similar survival rates.

Due to the common recurrence of CDAD in the clinical setting, the hamsters were followed after the discontinuation of treatment.

Seventy-five percent of animals treated with vancomycin developed recurrent C.

difficile cecitis (inflammation of the cecum) within 21 days of stopping the...

cents, slightly above the consensus forecast of 55 U.S.

cents.The stock was 5.03 percent higher at 835 pence by 1100 GMT, after earlier hitting 854p, its highest level in nearly 4 years.

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