New Option for Community-Acquired Pneumonia Evaluated in Recent Study

According to the results of a recent industry-conducted phase III trial, the recently FDA-approved lefamulin is noninferior to moxifloxacin for the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia.

The noninferiority randomized clinical trial was conducted at 99 sites and included 738 patients randomly assigned to either oral lefamulin (600 mg every 12 hours for 5 days) or to moxifloxacin (400 mg every 24 hours for 7 days).

The primary end point was clinical response at 96 hours after the first dose. Overall, early response rates were 90.8% in the lefamulin group and 90.8% in the moxifloxacin group.

The most commonly reported adverse events were diarrhea and nausea.

“Among patients with community-acquired bacterial pneumonia, 5-day oral lefamulin was noninferior to 7-day oral moxifloxacin with respect to early clinical response at 96 hours after first dose,” the authors concluded.

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Alexander E, Goldberg L, Das AF, et al. Oral lefamulin vs moxifloxacin for early clinical response among adults with community-acquired bacterial pneumonia [published online September 27, 2019]. JAMA. doi:10.1001/jama.2019.15468.