Results from the Phase III TEAMM (Tackling EArly Morbidity and Mortality in Myeloma) trial have recently been reported at the American Society of Haematology 2017 conference. This study assessed the benefit of levofloxacin antibiotic prophylaxis and its effect on healthcare associated infections in newly diagnosed myeloma patients.
The results show that levofloxacin prophylaxis had a significant benefit in myeloma patients; febrile episodes and deaths were reported in 19% of patients who received levofloxacin within the first 12 weeks following diagnosis, compared to 27% of patients receiving a placebo drug. There was a significant reduction in the number of deaths at 12 weeks with 8 patients in the levofloxacin arm versus 22 in the placebo arm.
To address concerns over the development of antibiotic resistance, patients were regularly screened for carriage of resistant organisms. The study found that there was no difference between the two arms of the trial for the carriage of nosocomial infections C. difficile, MRSA and ESBLGnB, suggesting that resistance had not developed as a result of receiving levofloxacin prophylaxis.