SARECYCLINE AND THE NARROW-SPECTRUM TETRACYCLINE CONCEPT: Currently Available Data and Potential Clinical Relevance in Dermatology

Abstract

Oral tetracyclines are commonly prescribed in dermatology, especially for acne. The most commonly used oral agents for acne treatment over the past several years are doxycycline and minocycline based on their overall efficacy and safety. Available for over five decades as immediate-release formulations, both of these agents exhibit broad-spectrum antibiotic activity and are primarily FDA-approved for treatment of a variety of cutaneous infections. In 2018, oral sarecycline was FDA-approved for the treatment of acne, which is the only disease state for which it was evaluated based on a narrower antibiotic spectrum of activity. This article reviews the overall antibiotic properties of commonly used oral tetracyclines with a focus on explaining the narrow spectrum of activity exhibited by sarecycline. Specifically, sarecycline has high activity against Cutibacterium acnes, the organism correlated with acne pathogenesis, as well as Staphylococci and Streptococci, with a low potential for emergence of resistant mutant bacteria based on in-vitro testing. The narrow-spectrum antibiotic designation of sarecycline relates to its negligible or low activity against many gram-negative and anaerobic bacteria. This article serves to review available data to date to assist clinicians in determining potential clinical relevance related to oral antibiotic use for acne.

Keywords: Sarecycline; antibiotic resistance; broad-spectrum antibiotic; microbiome; narrow-spectrum antibiotic.