Lefamulin


Lefamulin is an antibiotic used it to treat adults with community-acquired bacterial pneumonia. It is taken by mouth or by injection into a vein.
Relatively common side effects include diarrhea, nausea, pain at the site of injection, and liver inflammation. It is a pleuromutilin antibiotic that inhibits the large subunit of bacterial ribosomes.
Lefamulin was approved for medical use in the United States in 2019. On 28 May 2020, the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use of the European Medicines Agency adopted a positive opinion, recommending the granting of a marketing authorization for the medicinal product Xenleta, intended for the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia in adults.

Medical uses

Lefamulin is used to treat adults with community-acquired bacterial pneumonia. It was also investigated for treatment of acute bacterial skin and skin-structure infections.

Spectrum of activity

Lefamulin has in vitro activity against Streptococcus viridans, Moraxella catarrhalis, Enterococcus faecium, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, among other bacteria.

History

It was developed by Nabriva Therapeutics and approved in the United States in 2019. It was granted fast track status by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2014. Although pleuromutilin antibiotics were first developed in the 1950s, lefamulin is the first to be used for systemic treatment of bacterial infections in humans.
On 28 May 2020, the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use of the European Medicines Agency adopted a positive opinion, recommending the granting of a marketing authorization for the medicinal product Xenleta, intended for the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia in adults.