Pfizer Korea said it voluntarily recalled some of Zyvox 600mg (ingredient: linezolid), an antibiotic to treat multidrug-resistant bacterial infections.

Pfizer Korea’s antibiotic Zyvox

After the market release, the company ran the stability test and found that dissolution test results of some of the products showed deviations from the domestic approval standards.

The recalled products due to the abnormal dissolution results are packaged in bottles (20 tablets per bottle) with the expiration date of April 18, 2021, under the manufacturing number W94106.

Other Zyvox pills are safe to use. The company said it would recall the problematic drugs by March 1.

Released in 2006 in Korea, Zyvox is used for the treatment of multidrug-resistant bacterial infections. In particular, the antibiotic treats acute bacterial skin and tissue infections including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), also known as a superbug.

After Zyvox’ patent expired in 2014, domestic pharmaceutical firms such as CJ Healthcare, Yungjin Pharm, and Celltrion entered the market with generic drugs.

Before the arrival of generic copies, Zyvox used to sell 10 billion won a year. Last year, its sales plunged to about 200 million won ($177,984), according to preliminary data by UBIST.

lhs@docdocdoc.co.kr

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