Introduction: In the past decade, the indiscriminate use of fluoroquinolones in the prophylaxis and treatment of urinary tract infections (UTIs) has led to an increase of antibiotic resistance patterns. Finafloxacin is a new generation fluoroquinolone with interesting preclinical characteristics and pH-related efficacy.
Areas covered: This review summarizes finafloxacin's safety profile and prospectively evaluates its specific use in the treatment of UTIs. This article was based on a Medline English literature search.
Expert opinion: In vitro and in vivo studies have shown that finafloxacin expresses its full antibacterial activity in acidic environments and is able to exert significant bactericidal effects in difficult-to-treat infections. Finafloxacin has a broad antibacterial spectrum and efficient pharmacokinetic absorption. Moreover, it undergoes extensive tissue distribution, resulting in good antibacterial activity for daily dosages from 400 to 800 mg. This novel compound has also been successfully tested on biofilm-related Escherichia coli. Finafloxacin has demonstrated a good safety and tolerability profile in humans when administered orally or intravenously and is thus an interesting compound for the treatment of UTIs. However, further prospective randomized clinical trials will be necessary to confirm these preliminary results before definitive conclusions can be made.
Keywords: antibiotic resistance; antibiotic treatment; fluoroquinolones; urinary tract infection.