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Antimicrobial Activity, Pharmacokinetics and Clinical Use of Roxithromycin

An Overview

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Summary

Roxithromycin is an orally administered erythromycin derivative that has improved absorption, bioavailability, tolerability and clinical efficacy compared with the parent drug.

Roxithromycin has similar antimicrobial activity to erythromycin, including activity against Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae Legionella pneumophila, Streptococcus pyogenes, Neisseria meningitidis, N. gonorrhoeae, Corynebacterium diphtheriae, Bordetella pertussis, Branhamella (Moraxella) catarrhalis and Chlamydia trachomatis.

Roxithromycin has excellent enterai absorption and a long serum elimination half-life, and achieves high concentrations in most tissues and body fluids. This favourable pharmacokinetic profile, together with its spectrum of antibacterial activity and good tolerability, makes the drug an efficient agent for the treatment of virtually all respiratory tract infections. Roxithromycin has activity in infections of the genitourinary tract, skin and mouth, and can be used as prophylaxis of bacterial endocarditis.

Thus, roxithromycin has many characteristics making it a useful treatment for communityacquired infections.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, Hopital Bichat-Claude Bernard, 75877, Paris, Cedex 18, France

    Eugénie Bergogne-Bérézin

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  1. Eugénie Bergogne-Bérézin
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Bergogne-Bérézin, E. Antimicrobial Activity, Pharmacokinetics and Clinical Use of Roxithromycin. Drug Invest 3 (Suppl 3), 21–27 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03258331

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