Tigecycline

Tigecycline is a prescription medication used to treat the symptoms of bacterial infections such as Complicated Intra-abdominal Infections, Complicated Skin Infections, and Community-Acquired Pneumonia

• Tigecycline is available under the following different brand names: Tygacil

Dosages of Tigecycline:

Adult and Pediatric dosage

Powder for injection

• 50mg/vial

Complicated Intra-abdominal Infections

• Initial: 100 mg IV infusion, then 50 mg IV infusion every 12 hours for 5-14 days

Complicated Skin Infections

• Initial: 100 mg IV infusion, then 50 mg IV infusion every 12 hours for 5-14 days

Community-Acquired Pneumonia

• Initial: 100 mg IV infusion, 50 mg IV infusion every 12 hours for 7-14 days

Dosage Considerations – Should be Given as Follows: 

• See “Dosages”.

Common side effects of Tigecycline include:

• nausea, 
• vomiting, 
• stomach pain, 
• diarrhea, 
• headache, and 
• abnormal liver function tests 

Serious side effects of Tigecycline include:

• hives, 
• difficulty breathing, 
• swelling of the face, lips, tongue, or throat, 
• severe stomach pain, 
• diarrhea that is watery or bloody, 
• severe headache, 
• ringing in the ears, 
• dizziness, 
• nausea, 
• vision problems, 
• pain behind the eyes, 
• severe pain in the upper stomach spreading to your back, 
• nausea, 
• vomiting, 
• fast heart rate, 
• upper stomach pain, 
• itching, 
• tiredness, 
• loss of appetite, 
• dark urine, 
• clay-colored stools, and
• yellowing of the skin or eyes (jaundice)

Rare side effects of Tigecycline include:

• none 

If your medical doctor is using this medicine to treat your pain, your doctor or pharmacist may already be aware of any possible drug interactions and may be monitoring you for them.  Do not start, stop, or change the dosage of any medicine before checking with your doctor, health care provider, or pharmacist first

• Tigecycline has severe interactions with no other drugs.
• Tigecycline has serious interactions with the following drugs:
  • BCG vaccine live
  • cholera vaccine
  • typhoid vaccine live
• Tigecycline has moderate interactions with at least 13 other drugs.
• Tigecycline has minor interactions with the following drugs:
  • balsalazide
  • biotin
  • digoxin
  • pantothenic acid
  • pyridoxine
  • pyridoxine (Antidote)
  • thiamine

This information does not contain all possible interactions or adverse effects.  Visit the RxList Drug Interaction Checker for any drugs interactions. Therefore, before using this product, tell your doctor or pharmacist of all the products you use.  Keep a list of all your medications with you, and share this information with your doctor and pharmacist.  Check with your health care professional or doctor for additional medical advice, or if you have health questions, concerns.

Contraindications

• Documented hypersensitivity 

Effects of drug abuse

• None

Short-Term Effects

• See “What Are Side Effects Associated with Using Tigecycline?”

Long-Term Effects

• See “What Are Side Effects Associated with Using Tigecycline?”

Cautions

• Severe hepatic impairment
• Pregnancy
• Caution in severe hepatic impairment (reduce dose); patients who develop abnormal liver function tests during therapy should be monitored for evidence of worsening hepatic function and evaluated for risk/benefit of continuing tigecycline therapy
• Use during tooth development may cause permanent discoloration of teeth; the adverse reaction is more common during long-term use but has been observed following repeated short-term courses; enamel hypoplasia has also been reported
• Use during the second and third trimester of pregnancy, infancy, and childhood up to the age of 8 years may cause reversible inhibition of bone growth; tetracyclines form a stable calcium complex in any bone-forming tissue; a decrease in fibula growth rate has been observed in premature infants given oral tetracycline in doses of 25 mg/kg every 6 hours; the effect was shown to be reversible when therapy was discontinued; advise the patient of the potential risk to the fetus if the drug is used during the second or third trimester of pregnancy
• Hypofibrinogenemia reported; obtain baseline blood coagulation parameters, including fibrinogen, and continue to monitor regularly during treatment
• May permit clostridia overgrowth, resulting in antibiotic-associated colitis; evaluate for Clostridium difficile if diarrhea occurs
• Avoid use in patients with known hypersensitivity to tetracyclines
• May have adverse effects similar to those of tetracyclines (eg, photosensitivity, pseudotumor cerebri, antianabolic action)
• Pancreatitis, including fatalities, reported; if pancreatitis is suspected, consider stopping treatment
• Increased mortality risk with the use of IV tigecycline (see Black Box Warnings)
• May cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman

Pregnancy and Lactation

• May cause permanent discoloration of deciduous teeth and reversible inhibition of bone growth when administered during second and third trimesters of pregnancy
• There are no available data on the risk of major birth defects or miscarriage following use during pregnancy
• Advise patients of the potential risk to the fetus if the drug is used during the second or third trimester.  
• There are no data on the presence of the drug in human milk; however, tetracycline-class antibacterial drugs are present in breast milk
• Not known whether the drug affects the breastfed infant or milk production
• The drug has low oral bioavailability; therefore, infant exposure is expected to be low
• The drug is present in rat milk with little or no systemic exposure to the drug in nursing pups as a result of exposure via maternal milk; when the drug is present in animal milk, the drug will likely be present in human milk
• Developmental and health benefits of breastfeeding should be considered along with the mother’s clinical need for drugs and any potential adverse effects on the breastfed child from the drug or underlying maternal condition
• Because of the theoretical risk of dental discoloration and inhibition of bone growth, avoid breastfeeding if receiving therapy for longer than three weeks
• A lactating woman may consider interrupting breastfeeding and pumping and discarding breastmilk during the administration of therapy and for 9 days (approximately 5 half-lives) after the last dose to minimize drug exposure to a breastfed infant.