Clinical and bacteriological evaluation of nadifloxacin 1% cream in patients with acne vulgaris: a double-blind, phase III comparison study versus erythromycin 2% cream.

The aim of this double-blind, multinational, phase III study was to investigate the clinical and bacteriological efficacy of nadifloxacin 1% cream compared with erythromycin 2% cream in 474 European patients with predominantly inflamed slight-to-moderate acne vulgaris. During 12 weeks of treatment both nadifloxacin and erythromycin caused significant reduction in the number of inflamed papulo-pustular lesions (66.7% and 64.7%, respectively) and open and closed comedones. The microbiological evaluation showed a significant reduction of coagulase negative staphylococci (CNS) only in the nadifloxacin group, while Propionibacterium acnes was significantly reduced by both formulations. A significantly higher resistance and the extent of resistant of P. acnes and CNS against erythromycin compared to nadifloxacin were also evidenced. All adverse events reported were minor in both groups. This pivotal erythromycin-controlled study has demonstrated that nadifloxacin 1% cream was as efficacious and safe as erythromycin 2% and extremely low numbers of nadifloxacin-resistant microorganisms were detected in the treatment period.