Anti-infective agent

  Very limited clinical studies are available for Balofloxacin (Q-35), a new fluoroquinolone showing clinical effectiveness. Thus, a systematic review was carried out to assess the safety, efficacy and tolerability as an anti-infective agent using scientific databases (PubMed and Cochrane Library). Databases were screened using term “Balofloxacin” for available studies. The search strategy was developed according to Biondi-Zoccai with English language restriction and was set to Oct 2011. All randomized trials, comparative studies, controlled clinical trials and in-vitro/in-vivo studies showing efficacy on human clinical isolates were taken into account. Upon extensive search we found 36 and 12 studies in PubMed and Cochrane Library respectively. 7 studies including 4 free full text and 3 abstracts from PubMed database while 4 clinical trial abstracts from Cochrane Library were included for systematic review. A single randomized controlled trial (RCT) was found through Cochrane Library showing comparison between balofloxacin 100 mg with levofloxacin 200 mg twice daily for 7 to 10 days. As far as its clinical effectiveness is concerned for urinary and respiratory tract infections, it is found to be equivalent to ofloxacin but the evidence in terms of RCTs is rarely available in scientific databases. Thus, we conclude that more RCTs are required to be conducted to proof its superiority in terms of efficacy and safety. Key Words: Fluoroquinolone, Anti-infective agent, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Randomized Controlled Trial