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A new drug can offer the same kind of results in the treatment of skin infections as standard drug linezolid. Also the new tedizolid phosphate, once daily for 6 days, provides the same benefits as taking linezolid twice a day for 10 days.

Although there are antimicrobials available for treating skin infections, most of these have become outdated, as certain bacteria have gotten resistant to them. These new kind of bacterial infections resistant to drugs are now causing more serious health complications that can lead to hospitalization and surgery. Currently, linezolid is used to treat the infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). However, new study shows that tedizolid phosphate has the same efficacy in treating the condition.

667 adults aged 18 years or older with acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections were given either tedizolid phosphate or linezolid.

Study results showed that both groups responded almost equally to the treatments. 79.5 percent of 332 patients in the tedizolid phosphate group and 79.4 percent of 335 patients in the linezolid group had positive outcomes after 72 hours of the treatment, according to a news release from JAMA.

"A short course of tedizolid phosphate was statistically noninferior (no worse than) to a 10-day course of linezolid for both early and sustained clinical responses in patients with ABSSSIs. Results were consistent for primary and sensitivity analyses, using either objective criteria or investigators' assessments, and treatment response rates were concordant for early and late time points," the authors concluded.

The study is published in the journal JAMA.