Fighting against Clostridioides difficile infection: Current medications

Abstract

Clostridioides difficile (formerly Clostridium difficile) has been regarded as an "urgent threat" and a significant global health problem, as life-threatening diarrhea and refractory recurrence are common in patients with C. difficile infection (CDI). Unfortunately, the available anti-CDI drugs are limited. Recent guidelines recommend fidaxomicin and vancomycin as first-line drugs to treat CDI, bezlotoxumab to prevent recurrence, and fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) for rescue treatment. Currently, researchers are investigating therapeutic antibacterial drugs (e.g., teicoplanin, ridinilazole, ibezapolstat, surotomycin, cadazolid, and LFF571), preventive medications against recurrence (e.g., Rebyota, Vowst, VP20621, VE303, RBX7455, and MET-2), primary prevention strategies (e.g., vaccine, ribaxamase, and DAV132) and other anti-CDI medications in the preclinical stage (e.g., Raja 42, Myxopyronin B, and bacteriophage). This narrative review summarizes current medications, including newly marketed drugs and products in development against CDI, to help clinicians treat CDI appropriately and to call for more research on innovation.