Omadacycline for Mycobacterium Abscessus Infections Demonstrates Durability, Safety

Treatment for Mycobacterium abscessus infections come with a whole host of challenges, according to Amer El-Ghali, PharmD, Infectious Diseases PK/PD and Health Outcomes Research fellow at Anti-Infective Research Lab, Wayne State University. He points to the risk for adverse effects associated with having to take multiple medications over many months in a patient population that can often be immunocompromised.

Omadacycline is a novel aminomethylcycline antibiotic that is currently FDA approved for both acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections and community-acquired bacterial pneumonia. Omadacycline also received orphan drug designation and Fast Track designation for Nontuberculous mycobacterial infections (NTM) from the FDA.

Manufactured by biopharmaceutical company, Paratek Pharmaceuticals, omadacycline is available in oral and intravenous formulations. The antibiotic is specifically designed to overcome tetracycline resistance and exhibits activity across a spectrum of bacteria, including Gram-positive, Gram-negative, atypicals, and other drug-resistant strains.

El-Ghali and a large team of investigators wanted to measure how effective this novel antibiotic might be against NTM. As such, they conducted a multicenter, retrospective, observational study looking back from January 2020 to March 30, 2022.

This study, “A Multi-center Evaluation of Treatment Durability and Safety of Omadacycline for Mycobacterium abscessus Infections,” was presented at the ongoing 2023 MAD-ID Annual Antimicrobial Stewardship Meeting.

El-Ghali sees the antibiotic being beneficial in treating these infections. “It does show that there is some clinical promise with omadacycline.”

Overall, omadacycline was also found to be safe, and the only side effect that was notable was GI-related, according to El-Ghali. “Relatively few of those patients discontinued the antibiotic, which is very good, when you are talking about a 12-month tetracycline course.”  

Contagion spoke to El Ghali who offered some insights on the antibiotic’s mechanism of action, and the important takeaways from the study.