Telithromycin in the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia: a pooled analysis

The efficacy of telithromycin has been assessed in six Phase III studies involving adults with mild to moderate community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) with a degree of severity compatible with oral therapy Patients received telithromycin 800 mg once daily for 7-10 days in three open-label studies (n=870) and three randomized, double-blind, comparator-controlled studies (n=503). Comparator antilbacterials were amoxicillin 1000 mg three-times daily clarithromycin 500 mg twice daily and trovafloxacin 200 mg once daily Clincal and bacteriological outcomes were assessed 7-14 days post-therapy. Among telithromycin-treated patients, per-protocol clinical cure rates were 93.1 and 91.0% for the open-label and comparative studies, respectively Telithromycin treatment was as effective as the comparator agents. High eradication and clinical cure rates were observed for infections caused by key pathogens: Streptococcus pneumoniae including isolates resistant to penicillin G and/or erythromycin A (95.4%), Hoemophilus influenzae (89.5%) and Moroxella cotarrhalis (90%), Telithromycin was also highly effective in patients with infections caused by atypical and/or intracellular pathogens and those at increased risk of morbidity Telithromycin was generally well tolerated. Telithromycin 800 mg once daily for 7-10 days offers a convenient and well-tolerated first-line oral therapy for the empirical treatment of mild to moderate CAP. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.