The key difference between cubicin and cubicin RF is that cubicin needs to be stored in a refrigerator, whereas cubicin RF can be stored at both room temperature and at refrigerated temperatures.
Cubicin is the brand name of the drug daptomycin. Cubicin RF is a new formulation of antibiotic cubicin that is commercially available. It is different from cubicin in storage and reconstitution properties.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Cubicin
3. What is Cubicin RF
4. Cubicin vs Cubicin RF in Tabular Form
5. Summary – Cubicin vs Cubicin RF
What is Cubicin?
Cubicin is the brand name of the drug daptomycin. It is a lipopeptide antibiotic that is useful in treating systemic and severe infections that are caused by Gram-positive organisms. This drug is made of a naturally occurring compound in soil known as saprotroph. It has a distinct mechanism of action that makes it useful for treatments of infections that are caused by different drug-resistant bacteria. The route of administration for cubicin is the intravenous route.
Figure 01: Mode of Action of Cubicin
The protein binding percentage of cubicin is about 90-95%. The metabolism of this drug occurs through renal metabolism. It has an elimination half-life of about 7-11 hours. Excretion also occurs through the renal route.
There are some important medical uses of cubicin; it is used for skin and skin structure infections caused by the Gram-positive bacterial species such as S. aureus bacteremia, and right-sided S. aureus endocarditis. This drug can bind with pulmonary surfactants, so we cannot use it to treat pneumonia.
However, there can be some side effects of cubicin drug, including cardiovascular diseases such as high blood pressure, low blood pressure, swelling, respiratory tract diseases such as dyspnea, injection site reactions, etc.
What is Cubicin RF?
Cubicin RF is a new formulation of antibiotic cubicin that is commercially available. It is also named as daptomycin for injections. This form of cubicin can be stored at both room temperature and refrigerated temperatures. Moreover, once we reconstitute the cubicin RF vial with sterile water for injection, it has an in-use shelf life at room temperature for about 1 day, and we can keep it for up to 3 days if we can refrigerate it. However, if we can reconstitute these vials with bacteriostatic water for injection, then it extends to about 2 days of shelf-life.
Moreover, as an intravenous bag, cubicin RF has an in-use shelf-life of 19 hours at room temperature and 3 days in refrigerators. Generally, cubicin RF is available in lyophilized powder form as a single dose with 10mL vials.
What is the Difference Between Cubicin and Cubicin RF?
Cubicin and cubicin RF are closely similar drugs that are slightly different from each other in storage and reconstitution properties. Cubicin is the brand name of the drug daptomycin while Cubicin RF is a new formulation of antibiotic cubicin that is commercially available. The key difference between cubicin and cubicin RF is that cubicin needs to be stored in a refrigerator, whereas cubicin RF can be stored at both room temperature and at refrigerated temperatures.
The following table summarizes the difference between cubicin and cubicin RF.
Summary – Cubicin vs Cubicin RF
Both cubicin and cubicin RF are antibacterial injectables. These are useful in treating complicated skin and skin structure infections that are caused by susceptible bacterial species. The key difference between cubicin and cubicin RF is that cubicin needs to be stored in a refrigerator, whereas cubicin RF can be stored at both room temperature and at refrigerated temperatures.
Reference:
1. Han, Da Hee. “New Formulation of Antibiotic Cubicin Available.” MPR, 22 Jan. 2019.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Mechanism of Daptomycin Action” By Drakosam – Own work (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia