Atridox Study Results Published

Atrix Laboratories, Inc. (Fort Collins, CO) announced that studies demonstrating the effectiveness of Atridox (doxycycline hyclate) 10% have been published in the Journal of Periodontology.

According to a company release, Atridox combines the company's Atrigel bioabsorbable polymer with the antibiotic doxycycline to reduce bacteria associated with periodontal disease. The treatment is applied locally without anesthesia to the infected periodontal pocket, where it reaches deeply into the problem area and solidifies, releasing the drug for about seven days as it bioabsorbs.

The recently published clinical studies included data from 822 patients with moderate to severe periodontitis, and were conducted at 20 centers across the United States over a nine-month period. In the clinical trials, researchers evaluated the clinical efficacy of Atridox, oral hygiene, and scaling and root planing (SRP) with respect to pocket depth reduction and attachment level gain.

The studies, according to the firm, demonstrated that Atridox when used alone resulted in a mean pocket depth reduction of 1.2 mm and a mean attachment level gain of 0.8 mm. SRP resulted in a mean pocket depth reduction of 1.1 mm and a mean attachment level gain of 0.7 mm. Both Atridox and SRP produced clinically and statistically superior results to the oral hygiene and placebo groups, the company says.

According to Dr. Steven Garrett, DDS, vice president of clinical research for Atrix Laboratories, dentists have increasingly reported using Atridox as alternative therapy in maintenance patients whose clinical conditions may not require SRP. Many others have found the treatment useful in patients whose gums haven't responded after traditional mechanical therapy, or as an additional treatment in deep or difficult sites. Growing numbers of dentists are also said to be using the treatment prior to SRP and as therapy in patients who refuse to receive the mechanical procedures.

In clinical trials, Atridox side effects were similar to those of placebo. The most common side effects: headache, common cold, gum discomfort, pain or soreness, toothache, and tooth sensitivity. Atridox shouldn't be used by patients who are hypersensitive to doxycycline or any other drugs in the tetracycline class.