Ceftobiprole Effective in Treating Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia

In a significant medical advancement, a promising cephalosporin known as ceftobiprole has demonstrated its efficacy in treating complicated Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia, including the challenging methicillin-resistant S. aureus. This breakthrough was achieved through a meticulous phase 3 double-blind, double-dummy, noninferiority trial.

A total of 390 patients were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive either ceftobiprole or daptomycin, along with optional aztreonam as decided by the trial-site investigators. Ceftobiprole was administered at a dose of 500 mg intravenously every 6 hours for 8 days, followed by administration every 8 hours. Daptomycin was delivered at a dose of 6 to 10 mg per kilogram of body weight intravenously every 24 hours.

Of the 390 patients, 387 had confirmed S. aureus bacteremia and received either ceftobiprole or daptomycin. The findings revealed that ceftobiprole achieved an impressive overall treatment success rate of 69.8%, while daptomycin achieved 68.7%. These results indicate noninferiority between ceftobiprole and daptomycin, with a minimal adjusted difference of 2.0 percentage points.

These positive outcomes extended to key subgroups and secondary measures, such as mortality rates and the percentage of patients with microbiologic eradication. Adverse events were reported in 63.4% of those who received ceftobiprole and 59.1% who received daptomycin, with gastrointestinal adverse events, primarily mild nausea, being more frequent with ceftobiprole.

Ref: Ceftobiprole for Treatment of Complicated Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia

List of authors, Thomas L. Holland et al,October 12, 2023

N Engl J Med 2023; 389:1390-1401

DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2300220