Tigecycline: in community-acquired pneumonia.

Tigecycline is a first-in-class glycylcycline, broad-spectrum, intravenous antibacterial developed to overcome the two major mechanisms of tetracycline resistance (ribosomal protection and efflux). The drug has been in use since 2005 for complicated intra-abdominal infections, and complicated skin and soft tissue structure infections, but is currently being assessed in the US for community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in adults. In vitro, tigecycline had good activity against a range of Gram-positive, Gram-negative and atypical community-acquired respiratory tract pathogens implicated in CAP. Compared with other antibacterials, tigecycline has a prolonged post-antibiotic effect against key bacteria and a long serum elimination half-life in humans. The drug effectively penetrates lung tissue. The combined results of two well designed, phase III studies demonstrated that tigecycline 100 mg initially, followed by 50 mg every 12 hours for 7-14 days was not inferior to recommended dosages of levofloxacin in the treatment of hospitalized patients with CAP. Clinical cure rates were 89.7% versus 86.3% in the clinically evaluable population and 81.0% versus 79.7% in the clinical modified intent-to-treat population. Tigecycline was generally well tolerated in patients with CAP.