Overview of Tigecycline Efficacy and Safety in the Treatment of Complicated Skin and Skin Structure Infections - A European Perspective

In a randomized, double-blind, multicenter, multinational, controlled trial, 546 patients with complicated skin and skin structure infections received tigecycline 100 mg/day (a 100-mg initial dose and then 50 mg intravenously twice daily) or the combination of vancomycin 2 g/day (1 g intravenously twice daily) and aztreonam 4 g/day (2 g intravenously twice daily) for up to 14 days. Three hundred eighty-five (385) were from Europe. The primary endpoint was the clinical response in the clinical modified intent-to-treat (c-mITT) and clinically evaluable populations at the test-of-cure visit 12 to 92 days after the last dose. The microbiologic response at the test-of-cure visit was also assessed. Safety was assessed by physical examination, laboratory results and adverse event reporting. Of the patients enrolled in Europe, 376 patients were included in the c-mITT population (tigecycline group, n = 189; vancomycin/aztreonam group, n = 187), and 326 were clinically evaluable (tigecycline group, n = 167; vancomycin/aztreonam group, n = 159). The clinical responses in the tigecycline and the vancomycin/aztreonam groups in the clinically evaluable population were 89.8% versus 95.0%. Microbiologic eradication (documented or presumed) occurred in 84.8% of the European patients receiving tigecycline and 93.2% of the European patients receiving vancomycin/aztreonam. The number of European patients reporting adverse events was similar in the two groups, with increased nausea and vomiting rates in the tigecycline group and an increased incidence of rash and increases in alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase levels in the vancomycin/aztreonam group. Current data support findings from the overall results in the Phase 3 study and suggest that tigecycline is safe and effective for the treatment of complicated skin and skin structure infections.