Solithromycin for the treatment of community-acquired bacterial pneumonia

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Community-acquired pneumonia is a major public health problem worldwide. In recent years, there has been an increase in the frequency of resistance to the antimicrobials such as β-lactams or macrolides which have habitually been used against the causative pathogens. Solithromycin, a next-generation macrolide, is the first fluoroketolide with activity against most of the frequently isolated bacteria in community-acquired pneumonia, including typical and atypical bacteria as well as macrolide-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Areas covered: A detailed assessment of the literature relating to the antimicrobial activity, pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic properties, efficacy, tolerability and safety of solithromycin for the treatment of community-acquired bacterial pneumonia

Expert commentary: Recent randomized controlled phase II/III trials have demonstrated the equivalent efficacy of oral and intravenous solithromycin compared with fluoroquinolones in patients with lower mild-to-moderate respiratory infections, and have shown that systemic adverse events are comparable between solithromycin and alternative treatments. However, studies of larger populations which are able to identify infrequent adverse events are now needed to confirm these findings. On balance, current data supports solithromycin as a promising therapy for empirical treatment in adults with community-acquired bacterial pneumonia.

KEYWORDS:

• Community-acquired pneumonia
• efficacy
• safety
• solithromycin
• trials

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad, Instituto de Salud Carlos III (grant 11/01106 and 14/00580), and the Institut d’Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge (IDIBELL), Spain; and the Universidad del Norte and Departamento Administrativo de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (Colciencias), Colombia. The sponsors had no role in the design of the study, the collection and analysis of the data, or the preparation of the manuscript.