Pharmacokinetics and Safety of a Single Intravenous Dose of the Antibiotic Tigecycline in Patients With Cirrhosis

Tigecycline belongs to a new class of tetracyclines, the glycylcyclines, less than 20% of which is metabolized in the liver. Twenty‐five patients with cirrhosis with varying degrees of functional hepatic reserve (Child‐Pugh A, n = 10; B, n = 10; C, n = 5) and 23 healthy adults, matched by age, sex, weight, and smoking habits, received 100 mg of tigecycline infused intravenously over 60 minutes. Serum and urine samples were collected up to 120 hours after dosing. Pharmacokinetic data were derived using noncompartmental methods. The most common treatment‐emergent adverse events in healthy volunteers were nausea (56.5%), vomiting (21.7%), and headache (21.7%) and in the patients with cirrhosis, albuminuria (12%). Mean (±1 SD) tigecycline clearance values were 29.8 ± 11.3 L/h in healthy subjects and 31.2 ± 13.9 L/h (Child‐Pugh A), 22.1 ± 9.3 L/h (Child‐Pugh B), and 13.5 ± 2.7 L/h (Child‐Pugh C) in the patients. A single intravenous dose of tigecycline 100 mg was safe and well‐tolerated in patients with cirrhosis with varying degrees of hepatic functional reserve. No adjustment of tigecycline maintenance dosage is warranted in patients with compensated or moderately decompensated cirrhosis; doses should be reduced by 50%, to 25 mg, every 12 hours in patients with severely decompensated disease.