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Oral Moxifloxacin Well Tolerated, Effective Against Community Acquired Pneumonia

Oral moxifloxacin monotherapy is effective treatment for community-acquired pneumonia and appears to be better tolerated than is optimal antibiotic strategy such as amoxicillin and/or clarithromycin, say Spanish researchers.

Moxifloxacin, a new fluoroquinolone, was evaluated at Barcelona's Hospital Clinic, and was compared to standard anti-microbial therapy in this double-blind study.

Researchers randomised 564 patients to receive either oral moxifloxacin, 400 mg once daily, or standard oral therapy such as amoxicillin, 1g three times daily or clarithromycin 500 mg twice daily, alone or combined over 14 days. Clinical response, quality of life, symptoms, heath care resources and safety were all included in the assessment of the therapeutic value.

Between 7 and 10 days post therapy, 201 of 215 in the moxifloxacin group and 217 in the standard group were reported as successfully treated. This success was maintained in the follow-ups at 28 to 35 days when 183 of 192 in the moxifloxacin and 207 of 221 from the standard group continued to progress clinically.

The only drug-related adverse effects were noted when 55 of the 274 (20%) of patients treated with moxifloxacin and 86 of those in the standard group reported diarrhoea.
European Respiratory Journal January 2003 Vol 21 No 1 pp 135-143. "Effectiveness of oral moxifloxacin in standard first-line therapy in community-acquired pneumonia."

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