Efficacy of high doses of oral penicillin versus amoxicillin in the treatment of adults with non-severe pneumonia attended in the community: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

Effects of economic and health policies on the consumption of antibiotics in a Spanish region

OBJECTIVES

Inappropriate and indiscriminate use of antibiotics is one of the main factors contributing to the increasing bacterial resistance. Surveillance of antibiotic consumption is fundamental for assessing the effects of rational use-oriented measures introduced under economic or health policies. This study quantifies and assesses the introduction of a pharmaceutical co-payment and implementation of campaigns to increase awareness about and rational use in the consumption of antibiotics (volume and expenditure).

METHODS

Monthly official dispensations recorded by a health authority (La Rioja, Spain) between January 2009 and December 2017 (108 observations). Total and disaggregated (by active principle and patient's income level) time series for a number of packages and expenditure were studied using intervention and counterfactual analyses (Box-Jenkins methodology).

RESULTS

Co-payment reduced the total antibiotic consumption (number of packages -8.52% and expenditure -8.61%) and the difference was greater for the highest-priced antibiotics. Only two of the four campaigns had a significant effect, which lasted 6 months. Counterfactual analysis estimated the savings.

CONCLUSION

Economic and health policies helped to reduce antibiotic consumption. Each policy has different effects, co-payment reduces overall drug consumption through a price effect (loss of purchasing power), awareness campaigns depend on other elements for their success (media, scope and patient income).

Efficacy of high doses of penicillin versus amoxicillin in the treatment of uncomplicated community acquired pneumonia in adults. A non-inferiority controlled clinical trial

Introduction

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is treated with penicillin in some northern European countries.

Objectives

To evaluate whether high-dose penicillin V is as effective as high-dose amoxicillin for the treatment of non-severe CAP.

Design

Multicentre, parallel, double-blind, controlled, randomized clinical trial.

Setting

31 primary care centers in Spain.

Participants

Patients from 18 to 75 years of age with no significant associated comorbidity and with symptoms of lower respiratory tract infection and radiological confirmation of CAP were randomized to receive either penicillin V 1.6 million units, or amoxicillin 1000 mg three times per day for 10 days.

Main measurements

The main outcome was clinical cure at 14 days, and the primary hypothesis was that penicillin V would be non-inferior to amoxicillin with regard to this outcome, with a margin of 15% for the difference in proportions. EudraCT register 2012-003511-63.

Results

A total of 43 subjects (amoxicillin: 28; penicillin: 15) were randomized. Clinical cure was observed in 10 (90.9%) patients assigned to penicillin and in 25 (100%) patients assigned to amoxicillin with a difference of −9.1% (95% CI, −41.3% to 6.4%; p = .951) for non-inferiority. In the intention-to-treat analysis, amoxicillin was found to be 28.6% superior to penicillin (95% CI, 7.3–58.1%; p = .009 for superiority). The number of adverse events was similar in both groups.

Conclusions

There was a trend favoring high-dose amoxicillin versus high-dose penicillin in adults with uncomplicated CAP. The main limitation of this trial was the low statistical power due to the low number of patients included.

Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic considerations of antimicrobial drug therapy in cancer patients with kidney dysfunction

Patients with cancer have a high inherent risk of infectious complications. In addition, the incidence of acute and chronic kidney dysfunction rises in this population. Anti-infective drugs often require dosing modifications based on an estimate of kidney function, usually the glomerular filtration rate (GFR). However, there is still no preferential GFR formula to be used, and in acute kidney injury there is always a considerable time delay between true kidney function and estimated GFR. In most cases, the anti-infective therapy should start with an immediate and high loading dose. Pharmacokinetic as well as pharmacodynamic principles must be applied for further dose adjustment. Anti-infective drugs with time-dependent action should be given with the target of high trough concentrations (e.g., beta lactam antibiotics, penems, vancomycin, antiviral drugs). Anti-infective drugs with concentration-dependent action should be given with the target of high peak concentrations (e.g., aminoglycosides, daptomycin, colistin, quinolones). Our group created a pharmacokinetic database, called NEPharm, hat serves as a reference to obtain reliable dosing regimens of anti-infective drugs in kidney dysfunction as well as renal replacement therapy. To avoid the risk of either too low or too infrequent peak concentrations, we prefer the eliminated fraction rule for dose adjustment calculations.