Bactericidal activity of increasing daily and weekly doses of moxifloxacin in murine tuberculosis.

Moxifloxacin (MXF) is a new 8-methoxyquinolone with potent activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis and a half-life of 9 to 12 h in humans. Previous in vivo studies using daily doses of 100 mg/kg of body weight have demonstrated bactericidal activity comparable to that of isoniazid (INH) in a murine model of tuberculosis (TB). Recent pharmacokinetic data suggest that MXF may have been underadministered in these studies and that a 400-mg/kg dose in mice better approximates the area under the concentration-time curve obtained in humans after a 400-mg oral dose. Therefore, the bactericidal activity of MXF in doses up to 400 mg/kg given daily or weekly for 28 days was assessed in mice infected intravenously with 5 x 10(6) CFU of M. tuberculosis. INH was used as a positive control. After 3 days of daily therapy, the CFU counts from splenic homogenates for mice treated with MXF in doses of 100 to 400 mg/kg/day were lower than those from pretreatment controls. No significant differences in CFU counts were seen when mice receiving INH or MXF at 50 mg/kg/day were compared to pretreatment controls. After 28 days of therapy, dose-dependent reductions in CFU counts in splenic homogenates were seen for daily MXF therapy. The maximum bactericidal effect was seen with daily doses of 400 mg/kg, which resulted in a reduction in CFU counts of 1 log(10) greater than that with INH treatment, although the difference was not statistically significant. CFU counts from lung homogenates after 28 days of therapy were significantly lower in all treatment groups than in untreated controls. The weekly administration of MXF in doses ranging from 50 to 400 mg/kg resulted in no significant bactericidal activity. Mice receiving daily MXF doses of 200 and 400 mg/kg/day failed to gain weight and appeared ill after 28 days of therapy, findings suggestive of drug toxicity. In conclusion, MXF has dose-dependent bactericidal activity against M. tuberculosis in the mouse when given in doses up to 400 mg/kg, where its pharmacokinetic profile better approximates that of standard human dosages. Combination regimens which take advantage of the enhanced pharmacodynamic profile of MXF at these doses have the potential to shorten the course of antituberculous therapy or allow more intermittent (i.e., once-weekly) therapy and should be evaluated in the mouse model of TB.