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Once-Daily Moxifloxacin Therapy for Community-Acquired Pneumonia in General Practice

Evidence from a Post-Marketing Surveillance Study of 1467 Patients

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Abstract

Objective

To assess the efficacy, safety and tolerability of oral moxifloxacin in outpatients with respiratory tract infections treated in general practices in Germany with the focus on community-acquired pneumonia (CAP).

Methods design and patients

This was an open-label, prospective, uncontrolled, post-marketing surveillance study undertaken between October 2001 and June 2002. Symptoms associated with pneumonia were documented at baseline and at follow-up visits. A general assessment was given and the number of days until improvement/cure were recorded by the attending physician at the end of therapy.

Results

A total of 9036 patients were treated with moxifloxacin, of which 1467 had CAP. The recommended dosage of moxifloxacin (400mg once daily) was used in 97.8% of all CAP patients. Between the initial and final follow-up visits, symptoms of CAP were either improved or cured in 90–99% of patients. More than half of the patients showed improvement after 3 days (54.2%); 89.2% of patients were improved after 5 days. The mean time for patients to recover was 8.0 ± 2.7 days, with 88.7% of patients recovered by day 10 of treatment. Physicians rated moxifloxacin therapy as ‘very good’ or ‘good’ in 96.6% of patients and virtually all favoured prescribing moxifloxacin again. Ten patients (0.7%) reported adverse events during moxifloxacin therapy, mostly gastrointestinal disturbances.

Conclusions

Moxifloxacin is a very effective and safe treatment for patients with CAP and is highly accepted by physicians and patients because of rapid symptom improvement and good tolerability.

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Acknowledgements

This PMS study was supported and funded by Bayer Vital GmbH, Leverkusen, Germany. Statistical analyses were performed by Institute Dr Schauerte, Grünwald, Munich, Germany. We would like to thank all the physicians who participated in this surveillance study. HK has previously received research funds from Bayer. HL and KS are responsible for PMS studies at Bayer Healthcare. The authors have no conflicts of interest directly relevant to the content of this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kreiskrankenhaus Beeskow, Beeskow, Germany

    H. Koch

  2. Bayer HealthCare Pharma, PMS-Management, Building D162, D-51368, Leverkusen, Germany

    H. Landen & K. Stauch

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  1. H. Koch
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Correspondence to H. Landen.

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Koch, H., Landen, H. & Stauch, K. Once-Daily Moxifloxacin Therapy for Community-Acquired Pneumonia in General Practice. Clin. Drug Investig. 24, 441–448 (2004). https://doi.org/10.2165/00044011-200424080-00002

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