Telavancin Is FDA Approved for Complicated Skin and Skin-Structure Infections

Background Telavancin is a new intravenous lipoglycopeptide antibiotic with activity against staphylococci (including methicillin-resistant strains), streptococci, and vancomycin-susceptible enterococci. It is dosed once daily and does not require serum-level monitoring.

Indication: Telavancin is FDA approved for the treatment of complicated skin and skin-structure infections (cSSTIs) in adults. It was found to be noninferior to vancomycin for this purpose in a pooled analysis of two randomized controlled trials. The FDA recently denied approval of telavancin for nosocomial pneumonia, requesting additional data.

Mechanism of Action: Telavancin, like vancomycin, inhibits cell-wall synthesis. In addition, it binds to the bacterial membrane and…