WASHINGTON (Dow Jones/AP) – The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday it has approved a new type of drug by Pfizer Inc. to treat certain candida infections, including a common, deadly hospital-acquired bloodstream infection.

The drug, Eraxis, is a new antifungal medication that would treat a condition called candidemia that causes the bloodstream infection. Pfizer said the infection has a mortality rate of about 40 percent and affects about 60,000 patients annually. The infection can spread throughout the bloodstream and infect many organs in the body.

“Bloodstream infections such as candidemia can spread quickly and are very dangerous, especially for patients with weakened immune systems,” said Dr. Joseph Feczko, Pfizer’s chief medical officer.

The drug, also known generically as anidulafungin, was also approved to treat peritonitus, an infection of the abdominal cavity and to treat esophageal candidiasis, a fungal infection of the esophagus.

Daniel Watts, a Pfizer spokesman, said the drug will be available as a hospital-based drug and be delivered intravenously for about 14 days.

Analysts, including those at Cowen & Co., have predicted that sales of Eraxis will reach about $350 million annually by 2010.

The drug was developed by Vicuron Pharmaceuticals, which Pfizer acquired last September.

Another drug from that purchase, an antibiotic known generically as dalbavancin is awaiting final FDA approval.

In clinical studies Eraxis was compared with an older antifungal medication, fluconazole, also sold under the brand name Diflucan by Pfizer, and Eraxis was shown to be more effective.

Esophageal candidiasis is a fungal infection of the esophagus that is most common among people with compromised immune systems such as people with HIV/AIDS, Pfizer said.

The most common side effects for Eraxis seen in the bloodstream-infection studies included lower-than-normal levels of potassium in the blood, diarrhea, and an increase in a liver enzyme that was experienced by 2.3 percent of patients in the study. The drug doesn’t appear to be toxic to the kidneys, Pfizer said.