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Moxifloxacin (Avelox) Resolves Chronic Bronchitis Symptoms Faster Than Conventional Antibiotic Therapy: Presented at ATS

By Charlene Laino

ORLANDO, FL -- May 26, 2004 -- Patients with acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis experienced significantly faster recovery if they were administered moxifloxacin for 5 days, compared with patients given clarithromycin or amoxicillin/clavulanate for 10 days, a multicenter observational study shows.

Marc Miravitlles, MD, senior researcher, department of pneumology, Hospital Clínico de Barcelona, Spain, presented the findings on May 26th at the 100th International Conference of the American Thoracic Society.

The study was designed to identify factors associated with faster recovery after treatment of chronic bronchitis exacerbations and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), Dr. Miravitlles said. The researchers enrolled 1,164 patients with exacerbations of chronic bronchitis; 789 of them had been diagnosed with COPD and had a mean forced expiratory volume in 1 second of 50%. The mean age of all the patients was 68.7 years, and participants had smoked a mean of 36.9 pack-years.

Dr. Miravitlles said patients were randomized to receive amoxicillin/clavulanate for 10 days, moxifloxacin for 5 days, or clarithromycin for 10 days. Symptoms resolved within 5 days in 70% of patients on moxifloxacin, compared with 50% of patients on clarithromycin and 44% on amoxicillin/clavulanate, he said.

In multivariate analysis, patients on moxifloxacin were 2.89 times more likely to have a speedy recovery than those on amoxicillin/clavulanate (95% confidence interval, 2.2 to 3.8) and 2.44 times more likely to have a fast recovery than those on clarithromycin (95% confidence interval, 1.8 to 3.2), Dr. Miravitlles said. Treatment with short-acting beta2 agonists and long-term oxygen were associated with prolonged time to recovery, he added.

Currently, conventional antibiotic therapy is associated with a 15% to 20% failure rate in patients with acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis, Dr. Miravitlles said, "so we need to improve [our approach to treatment]."

"Moxifloxacin is a newer agent that has several advantages," he said. Only 5 days of treatment are needed, compared with the 7 to 10 days of treatment associated with commonly used antibiotics. "And now we have observed that patients on moxifloxacin recovered sooner."

"The main finding," he said in an interview, "is that this antibiotic works and kills the bacteria quicker."

Bayer Pharmaceuticals, which markets moxifloxacin as Avelox, funded the trial.


[Presentation title: "Analysis of Factors Associated with Faster Recovery of Acute Exacerbations of Chronic Bronchitis and COPD in Primary Care."

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