Clindamycin
CleocinPubChem CID 446598 · 3D model
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Jams the machinery bacteria use to build proteins, stopping them from growing.
How it works
Clindamycin works by attaching to a specific part of a bacterium's ribosome — the internal machine that builds proteins — and jamming it so the bacteria can't make the proteins they need to grow and multiply. Bacteria can become resistant by slightly altering that ribosome docking site, and this resistance can also make related antibiotics stop working. When taken as a pill, clindamycin is absorbed almost completely and spreads well through the body, including into bone, but it doesn't reach the fluid around the brain and spinal cord well, so it isn't used for infections there like meningitis. The liver breaks the drug down fairly quickly, with roughly half of it cleared from the blood within about two and a half hours.
What it’s used for
Used for serious infections caused by bacteria that thrive without oxygen, and for serious strep, pneumococcal, and staph infections — but mainly as a backup for patients who are allergic to penicillin or for whom penicillin isn't a good fit, because clindamycin carries a strong warning about triggering a serious gut infection called C. diff colitis. It treats things like lung infections and abscesses, serious skin infections, bloodstream infections, abdominal infections, and infections of the female reproductive organs. Because of the C. diff risk, doctors are told to think carefully about whether a safer antibiotic could work first before choosing clindamycin.
- Mechanism
- Lincosamide, inhibits bacterial protein synthesis via the 50S ribosomal subunit
- Drug class
- Small molecule
- Therapeutic area
- Antibiotic