Daptomycin for Gram-positive Infections in Patients with Neutropenia: Clinical Experience from a European Outcomes Registry

The aim of this analysis was to describe in real-world settings the clinical outcomes and safety associated with daptomycin treatment in patients with neutropenia and Gram-positive infections.

Patients with an absolute neutrophil count (ANC) ≤1000 cells/mm³ who received at least one dose of daptomycin between 2006 and 2012 were selected from a non-interventional, multicenter, retrospective registry (European Cubicin^® Outcome Registry and Experience; EU-CORE^SM).

Of the 6075 patients enrolled in EU-CORE, 446 (7.3%) had an ANC ≤ 1000 cells/mm³ at baseline or during daptomycin therapy; they were all included in efficacy and safety populations. Half of the patients had severe neutropenia (ANC ≤ 100 cells/mm³). Most patients had hematologic malignancy (60.5%), an immunosuppressed state (39.7%) or had undergone a transplant (27.8%). The most common primary infections were bacteremia (42.2%) and complicated skin and soft tissue infection (13.9%). Cultures were positive for 68.6% (254/370) of patients with available culture results; coagulase-negative staphylococci (43.7%; 111/254) and Staphylococcus aureus (18.9%; 48/254) were the most commonly isolated primary pathogens. Median duration of daptomycin therapy was 10.0 (range 1–98) days. Most patients (82.8%) received antibiotics concomitantly with daptomycin; the most common were carbapenems (51.2%), penicillins (42.1%), and aminoglycosides (19.9%). The overall clinical success rate (cured or improved) associated with daptomycin was 77.1%. Adverse events possibly related to daptomycin treatment were reported in seven (1.6%) patients and led to drug discontinuation in 27 (6.1%) patients.

The study results suggest that daptomycin is an effective therapeutic option for the treatment of a broad range of Gram-positive infections in patients with neutropenia, and has a good safety profile.

This study was funded by Novartis Pharma AG.