From Reuters Health Information

First-in-Class Antibiotic Has High Risk of Adverse Events and Death

Megan Brooks

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) January 7, 2011 — The usefulness of tigecycline for severe infections comes at a price: a high risk of adverse events and death, a meta-analysis shows.

Tigecycline (Tygacil; Pfizer) — a first-in-class expanded broad-spectrum glycylcycline antibiotic — is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treatment of complicated intra-abdominal infections, complicated skin and skin structure infections and community acquired pneumonia.

It has also been effective in hospital-acquired and ventilator-associated pneumonia and bacteremia, septic shock and urinary tract infections. It is active against pathogens that are susceptible and resistant to other antibiotics.

In some cases the drug may be appropriate, but the decision to use it should be "prudent," the authors of the study write in the December 20 online issue of Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.