Tedizolid: a service evaluation in a large UK teaching hospital.

Tedizolid is a new oxazolidinone antibiotic with little real-life data on use outside of skin and soft tissue infections. There is a paucity of safety evidence in courses greater than 6 days. Our centre uses tedizolid predominantly when linezolid-associated adverse events have occurred. This service evaluation describes our experience to date. We performed a retrospective service evaluation by reviewing case notes, prescription charts, and laboratory system results for each patient prescribed tedizolid at our hospital and recording patient demographics, clinical details, and outcomes. Sixty patients received tedizolid between May 2016 and November 2018. Most were treated for bone or joint infections and had stopped linezolid prior to tedizolid prescription. Mean length of tedizolid therapy was 27 days. Haematological adverse effects were infrequent. Most patients (72%) finished the course and their clinical condition improved during treatment (72%). Adverse events were common, but often not thought to be tedizolid related. Tedizolid appears to be safe in prolonged courses within this context. It may be suitable for longer-term antibiotic therapy within a complex oral and parenteral outpatient antibiotic therapy (COPAT) service. Patients who do not tolerate linezolid can be safely switched to tedizolid if appropriate.

When are combinations of antibiotics clinically useful?

Antimicrobial resistance is a global crisis. Prescribing antibacterial combinations may be one way of reducing the development of resistance in target pathogens, as in the treatment of tuberculosis. Combinations may be useful for ascertaining synergy, broadening antimicrobial cover to reduce the risk of non-susceptibility, antimicrobial stewardship reasons, and immune modulation. The current research literature and/or prevailing global standards of clinical care suggest that combination therapy may be advantageous in: severe community-acquired pneumonia; severe hospital-acquired or ventilator-associated pneumonia or when there is a high risk of resistance in hospital-acquired or ventilator-associated pneumonia; multi-drug or extensively drug-resistant Gram-negative infections; and severe group A streptococcal infections. In other situations, combinations may be harmful. Overall, outside of tuberculosis, combination antibacterial therapy is likely to improve outcomes only in specific circumstances and there is little evidence to suggest that this prevents the development of bacterial resistance. Further high-quality research is essential.