Newer antibiotic effective against deadly staph infection in trial
Patients were randomly assigned to receive infusions of ceftobiprole or daptomycin
WALTHAM, Massachusetts (Reuters) – An antibiotic already in use in Europe to treat pneumonia controlled deadly bloodstream infections with Staphylococcus aureus bacteria just as effectively as the most powerful antibiotic currently in use, according to data from a late-stage trial.
Ceftobiprole from Swiss drugmaker Basilea Pharmaceutica appeared to be equally effective as the older drug daptomycin in the roughly one-in-four patients who had particularly difficult to treat methicillin-resistant S aureus (MRSA) infections, researchers reported on Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine.
“This is an area of true need,” study leader Dr Thomas Holland of Duke University School of Medicine said in a statement.
“There has not been a new antibiotic approved for the treatment of S aureus bacteremia for over 15 years.”
For the study, 390 patients hospitalized with complicated bloodstream staph infections were randomly assigned to receive infusions of ceftobiprole or daptomycin.
The treatment was successful in 69.8 per cent of the ceftobiprole group and 68.7pc of the daptomycin group, according to the report. Success was defined as survival, symptom improvement, clearance of S aureus from the blood, absence of new complications and no need for other antibiotics.
Gastrointestinal issues were the most common side effect with both drugs.
Daptomycin was the most recently approved new antibiotic for S aureus bacteremia more than 15 years ago, the researchers noted.
“Despite a lot of work in medical science, complicated staph infections still have a 25pc mortality rate at 90 days,” study co-author Dr Vance Fowler Jr of Duke Health said in a statement. “We need more options for treating these infections.”
In August, Basilea Pharmaceutica filed for approval of ceftobiprole with the US Food and Drug Administration.
WHAT ARE STAPH INFECTIONS?
Staph infections are caused by staphylococcus bacteria. These types of germs are commonly found on the skin or in the nose of many healthy people. Most of the time, these bacteria cause no problems or cause relatively minor skin infections.
But staph infections can turn deadly if the bacteria invade deeper into your body, entering your bloodstream, joints, bones, lungs or heart. A growing number of otherwise healthy people are developing life-threatening staph infections.
Treatment usually involves antibiotics and cleaning of the infected area. However, some staph infections no longer respond, or become resistant, to common antibiotics. To treat antibiotic-resistant staph infections, health care providers may need to use antibiotics that can cause more side effects.
