New FDA Drug Approval of Medications for Treating Drug-Resistant Pathogens

In October of this year, several healthcare professionals who work in infection diseases and healthcare epidemiology and prevention fields met up in San Diego for the annual IDWeek conference. This program offers attendees an opportunity to get access to current clinical research and innovation in their field.

One conference attendee, Paul G. Auwaerter, MD, reported on the six new drugs that were introduced at the conference. In a video and article featured on MedScape, Six Drugs for Resistant Pathogens: Good News From IDWeek 2015, Dr. Auwaerter discusses some key points made by conference attendees. He also reports that in the last two years, there has been FDA approval of six new medications for treating drug-resistant pathogens. Some of the exciting new drugs he reports on include:

1. Ceftazimide/avibactam:  This drug is expected to fill a niche for the treatment of carbapenemases.
2. Ceftolozane/tazobactam:  This drug is effective at treating highly resistantPseudomonas aeruginosa infections. It appears to have less toxicity than alternatives like aminoglycosides or polymyxin compounds.
3. Isavuconazonium sulfate:  This medication is effective at fighting against molds and Aspergillus and is believed to have a slightly cleaner side-effect profile than voriconazole. It has also been approved by the FDA for treating against Mucor, though the data regarding its effectiveness in this regard is limited.
4. Peramivir: This is an injectable neuraminidase inhibitor that has been approved for the treatment of influenza but will more likely be frequently used on severely ill hospitalized patients. This drug was used during the N1N1 pandemic and was well tolerated.
5. Brincidofovir: This new medication has not yet been approved by the FDA, but is looking promising as an antiviral agent for pathogens such as andenovirus, double-stranded DNA and viruses. It is less toxic than the currently-used drug, cidofovir.

You can learn more about these drugs and other information gleaned from the IDWeek conference by reading the full article or watching the accompanying video here.