The role of telavancin in the treatment of MRSA infections in hospital.
BACKGROUND
Serious infections caused by Gram-positive bacteria, particularly multi-drug resistant, are an important cause of morbidity and mortality in patients admitted to intensive care units. Thus, new antibiotics covering these pathogens are urgently needed.


OBJECTIVE
To review characteristics of telavancin, a novel antibiotic intended to use for treating infections caused by difficult Gram-positive bacteria, such as Staphylococcus aureus, resistant to meticillin or vancomycin, multi-drug-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae or glycopeptide-resistant enterococci.


METHODS
The studies on microbiological activity, clinical efficacy and safety of telavancin were reviewed.


CONCLUSIONS
Telavancin is a lipoglycopeptide administered intravenously once-daily and excreted with urine. It proved to be microbiologically active against numerous Gram-positive pathogens including drug-resistant staphylococci, enterococci and pneumococci. Large randomized Phase II and III clinical trials on efficacy and safety of telavancin in treating complicated skin and skin structure infections reported telavancin to be non-inferior to standard treatment (mostly vancomycin). Preliminary data on telavancin in hospital-acquired pneumonia, including ventilator-associated pneumonia, documented that telavancin was efficacious for this indication. Overall incidence of adverse events was similar for telavancin and the comparator arms. Mild and transient disgeusia, nausea and vomiting resulted to be more frequent in telavancin group. Increase in creatinine values was also observed in telavancin arm.
Bassetti
Matteo
M
University of Genoa School of Medicine, S Martino Hospital, Clinica Malattie Infettive, Infectious Diseases Division, AOU San Martino, Genova, Italy. matteo.bassetti@hsanmartino.it
Mikulska
Malgorzata
M
Righi
Elda
E
Nicolini
Laura
L
Viscoli
Claudio
C