Five-day telithromycin once daily is as effective as 10-day clarithromycin twice daily for the treatment of acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis and is associated with reduced health-care resource utilization.

STUDY OBJECTIVES

To demonstrate equivalence in the clinical efficacy of telithromycin vs clarithromycin treatment of outpatients with acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis (AECB), and to compare the tolerability and respiratory-related health-care resource utilization associated with these treatment regimens.

DESIGN AND PATIENTS

A randomized, double-blind, multicenter, clinical study was conducted at 105 centers in 14 countries. Adult outpatients (age > or = 30 years) received oral telithromycin, 800 mg qd for 5 days (n = 270), or oral clarithromycin, 500 mg bid for 10 days (n = 282), for the treatment of AECB. Clinical and bacteriologic outcomes were assessed at the posttherapy/test-of-cure (TOC) visit (days 17 to 24; per-protocol population). Health-care resource utilization data were collected for each patient by investigators blinded to study medication up to the late posttherapy visit (days 31 to 36).

RESULTS

Clinical cure rates at the posttherapy/TOC visit were comparable between the groups (telithromycin, 193 of 225 patients [85.8%]; clarithromycin, 206 of 231 patients [89.2%]); bacteriologic outcome was satisfactory for 59 of 72 telithromycin-treated patients (81.9%) vs 63 of 76 clarithromycin-treated patients (82.9%). Health-care resource utilization assessed up to the late posttherapy visit was lower in the telithromycin treatment group than the clarithromycin treatment group, with significantly fewer hospitalizations for respiratory-related causes (one hospitalization vs eight hospitalizations for a total of 4 inpatient days vs 39 inpatient days, respectively), significantly fewer AECB-related emergency department visits (0 vs 8), and fewer unscheduled outpatient visits (11 vs 18). Fewer telithromycin-treated patients reported days lost from work (21 of 91 patients [23.1%]; 133 days) compared with those receiving clarithromycin (30 of 98 patients [30.6%]; 141 days). Telithromycin was well tolerated; adverse events considered possibly related to study medication were reported by 61 of 269 patients (22.7%) and 100 of 280 patients (35.7%) receiving telithromycin and clarithromycin, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

In this study, 5-day telithromycin treatment was as effective and well tolerated as 10-day clarithromycin treatment for patients with AECB, and was associated with a reduced utilization of health-care resources.