Towards optimising dosing of the 'old' antibiotic colistin methanesulphonate: enhancing efficacy and reducing resistance

Funded Activity Summary

The global problem of multidrug-resistant bacteria is a major clinical challenge. In cystic fibrosis (CF) patients, the bacteria pseudomonas shows significantly high resistance to the commonly used antibiotics and is a major cause of death. As a consequence, interest in an old antibiotic, colistin, has been rekindled after 40 years on the shelf. The safety of intravenous colistin has been demonstrated in several clinical trials. However, based on our preliminary studies in CF patients, the current dosage regimen where colistin is given three times a day does not achieve high enough concentrations to kill the bacteria. The studies proposed in this project will address the safety, effectivenss and impact on development of resistance of larger doses of intravenous colistin given once or twice daily. We propose that such dosing strategies will yield more effective usage of this promising 'old' antibiotic.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2004

End Date: 01-01-2006

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $266,500.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Medical biochemistry - inorganic elements and compounds

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

There are no SEO codes available for this funding activity

Other Keywords

Antimicrobial chemotherapy | Antimicrobial pharmacodynamics | Antimicrobial pharmacodynamics of resistance | Antimicrobial pharmacokinetics | Antimicrobial safety and tolerability | Diminishing therapeutic options | Infectious diseases | Multidrug resistant bacterial infection | Pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic principles in dose selection | Rationalising antibiotic therapy in cystic fibrosis

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