Fidaxomicin
chemical compound
Fidaxomicin, sold under the brand name Dificid among others, is an antibiotic medication used for the treatment of C. difficile-associated diarrhea. It is a macrolide antibacterial and is the first member of a class of narrow spectrum macrocyclic antibiotic drugs called tiacumicins. It is a fermentation product obtained from the actinomycete Dactylosporangium aurantiacum subspecies hamdenesis.
Fidaxomicin was approved for medical use in the United States in May 2011. It is available as a generic medication.
Medical uses
Fidaxomicin is indicated for the treatment of C. difficile-associated diarrhea.
Adverse effects
The most common side effects reported in adults with the use of fidaxomicin include nausea, abdominal pain, vomiting, anemia, neutropenia, and gastrointestinal hemorrhage. In children the most common side effects include fever, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, abdominal pain, rash, and increased aminotransferases.
Mechanism
Fidaxomicin binds to and prevents movement of the "switch regions" of bacterial RNA polymerase. Switch motion occurs during the opening and closing of the DNA:RNA clamp, a process that occurs throughout RNA transcription but is especially important in the opening of double-stranded DNA during the initiation of transcription.
The public source identifies “Fidaxomicin” as chemical compound. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Fidaxomicin, chemical and compound.
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Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5446672. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2011.
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This entry incorporates text from “Fidaxomicin” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.