Abstract

Daptomycin (Cubicin) is the first of a new class of antibacterials, the cyclic lipopeptides, and is approved for use in the treatment of complicated skin and soft-tissue or skin-structure infections (hereafter referred to as cSSTI) caused by Gram-positive bacteria and Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia including right-sided infective endocarditis.Daptomycin has activity in vitro against a wide variety of Gram-positive bacteria, including meticillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococci. When administered as a once-daily intravenous infusion, daptomycin was not inferior to standard parenteral therapy (vancomycin or semi-synthetic penicillins) in terms of clinical and microbiological efficacy in patients with cSSTI or S. aureus bacteraemia with or without infective endocarditis (including MRSA infection) and was well tolerated. With the advantage of once-daily administration and a low potential for drug interactions, daptomycin is a useful addition to the range of parenteral antibacterial agents available for the treatment of patients with cSSTI or S. aureus bacteraemia with or without right-sided infective endocarditis. Efficacy against both meticillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) and MRSA infections makes daptomycin suitable for empirical therapy in patients with serious Gram-positive infections.