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Rifamycin SV MMX®: A Review in the Treatment of Traveller’s Diarrhoea

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A Correction to this article was published on 20 June 2019

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Abstract

Rifamycin SV MMX® (Aemcolo™; Relafalk™) is a novel oral formulation of the antibacterial rifamycin SV that uses MultiMatrix (MMX®) technology to enable colonic delivery. Specifically, the active ingredient (rifamycin SV) is released throughout the colon, where it acts locally in the intestinal lumen; systemic absorption is minimal. Rifamycin SV MMX® exhibits antibacterial activity against a broad spectrum of clinically relevant enteropathogens and is available in the EU and the USA for the treatment of adults with traveller’s diarrhoea. In two multinational, phase III studies, rifamycin SV MMX® (400 mg twice daily for 3 days) effectively shortened the duration of non-dysenteric traveller’s diarrhoea in adults, being significantly more effective than placebo and noninferior to ciprofloxacin in reducing median time to last unformed stool. As expected (given its poor systemic absorption), rifamycin SV MMX® was well tolerated in this patient population, with the overall incidence of treatment-emergent adverse events generally similar to those of placebo and ciprofloxacin. Current evidence indicates that twice-daily rifamycin SV MMX® is an effective and well tolerated treatment option for shortening the duration of non-dysenteric traveller’s diarrhoea in adults.

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Acknowledgements

During the peer review process, the manufacturer of rifamycin SV MMX® was also offered an opportunity to review this article. Changes resulting from comments received were made on the basis of scientific and editorial merit.

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Correspondence to Sheridan M. Hoy.

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The preparation of this review was not supported by any external funding.

Conflict of interest

Sheridan Hoy is a salaried employee of Adis International Ltd/Springer Nature, is responsible for the article content and declares no relevant conflicts of interest.

Additional information

The manuscript was reviewed by: H. Bhally, Waitemata District Health Board, Auckland, New Zealand; B. A. Connor, Weill Cornell Medical College and The New York Center for Travel and Tropical Medicine, New York, NY, USA.

The original version of this article was revised: Modifications have been made in Sect. 5 “Tolerability of Rifamycin SV MMX®”, the first sentence of the second paragraph.

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Hoy, S.M. Rifamycin SV MMX®: A Review in the Treatment of Traveller’s Diarrhoea. Clin Drug Investig 39, 691–697 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40261-019-00808-2

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