NEW ORLEANS – A novel antibiotic in development fared well in terms of efficacy and safety for patients hospitalized for suspected or confirmed Gram-positive acute skin and soft tissue infections, reveals the first reported findings of a phase II, randomized study.
Investigators randomized 122 patients over 18 years of age with wound infections, major cutaneous abscesses, or cellulitis to three different dosing intravenous/oral regimens of gepotidacin (GlaxoSmithKline). Patients in the 750-mg/1,500-mg q12h and 1,000-mg/2,000-mg q8h groups met the primary efficacy endpoint of an 80% or greater clinical success (83% and 92%, respectively) within 2-3 days. A third group, randomized to 1,000-mg/2,000-mg q12h, had a 72% early success rate.
All three groups of patients achieved the primary safety outcome, defined as less than a 2.5% withdrawal rate due to drug-related adverse events during gepotidacin treatment. One patient in the 750-mg q12h group withdrew because of a migraine related to the study drug.
Damian McNamara/Frontline Medical News
Dr. William O'Riordan
Gepotidacin cleaves bacterial DNA in two places to block replication. “Because of its dual mechanism, there are a lot of potential applications,” Dr. O’Riordan said at the combined annual meetings of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, the HIV Medicine Association, and the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society. Gepotidacin is also being assessed in ongoing gonorrhea, complicated intra-abdominal infections, and urinary tract infection studies.
The researchers in the current study also measured clinical success at post therapy days 12-18. They found 90% of the 750-mg/1,500-mg q12h group, 82% of the 1,000-mg/2,000-mg q8h, and 84% of the 1,000-mg/2,000-mg q12h group achieved the composite efficacy endpoint.
Overall, 84 or 69% of study participants experienced an adverse event. Nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting were the most common mild-to-moderate adverse events associated with the 10 days of gepotidacin treatment. Two serious adverse events not related to treatment also occurred during the study.
The “low adverse events and reproducible resolution of skin infections” in this phase II study support further development of gepotidacin, Dr. O’Riordan said.
Dr. O’Riordan had no relevant disclosures. Some study coauthors are GlaxoSmithKline employees.