title: Telavancin for the treatment of serious gram-positive infections, including hospital acquired pneumonia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hospital-acquired pneumonia is a common infection, associated with substantial mortality. Despite the increasing prevalence of nosocomial pneumonia caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), approved treatment options for this pathogen are limited.
  
  
  METHODS
  This article reviews the pharmacokinetics, dosing, preclinical studies and clinical efficacy, and safety of telavancin, with a particular focus on results from trials in nosocomial pneumonia. PubMed and Congress websites were searched for relevant articles published between 2003 and 2010.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Telavancin is a lipoglycopeptide antibiotic with rapid, bactericidal activity against MRSA, and may provide another option for the treatment of nosocomial pneumonia, owing to Gram-positive pathogens.
authors.affiliation: University of Manitoba, Faculty of Medicine, Section of Infectious Diseases, 543 - 745 Basic Medical Sciences Building, Winnipeg MB R3E 0J9, Canada. rubinste@cc.umanitoba.ca
authors.forename: Ethan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rubinstein
authors.forename: G Ralph
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Corey
authors.forename: Martin E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Stryjewski
authors.forename: Zeina A
authors.initials: ZA
authors.lastname: Kanafani
mesh_terms: D000617:Aminoglycosides / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000188:drug therapy*; D016908:Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections / Q000188:drug therapy; D006801:Humans; D000077427:Lipoglycopeptides; D055624:Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus; D011023:Pneumonia, Staphylococcal / Q000188:drug therapy*; D017192:Skin Diseases, Bacterial / Q000188:drug therapy
chemical_list: D000617:Aminoglycosides; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D000077427:Lipoglycopeptides; C487637:telavancin