Fewer patients on dalbavancin had adverse events (almost 33% vs. almost 38% of those on vancomycin-linezolid). The most common adverse events associated with treatment in both groups were nausea (almost 3% in both groups), diarrhea (0.8% among those on dalbavancin, vs. 2.5% among those on vancomycin-linezolid) and pruritus (0.6% vs. 2.3%).
The oritavancin study was funded by the Medicines Company, the drug’s manufacturer, and several authors are employees of the company. Dr. Corey’s disclosures include having received personal fees from the Medicines Company during the study. Other disclosures include fees paid to one author’s institution to conduct the study; other authors had no disclosures.
The dalbavancin study was funded by Durata Therapeutics, the drug’s manufacturer, and two of the six authors are Durata employees. Dr. Boucher disclosed having received fees for serving on advisory boards for Durata and other pharmaceutical companies. Disclosures of the remaining three authors included having received consulting and lecture fees and advisory board fees from various companies, including Durata. One author (not a Durata employee) also disclosed owning stock or stock options in several companies, including Durata.
In May, the FDA approved dalbavancin for the treatment of acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections; it is being marketed as Dalvance. In February, the Medicines Company announced that the application for approval of oritavancin for the treatment of skin and skin structure infections had been accepted by the FDA.