Emerging drugs on methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

INTRODUCTION

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has proven to be a prominent pathogen in hospitals and in the community, which is capable of causing a variety of severe infections. Until now, there has been a limited antimicrobial armamentarium for use against MRSA, of which glycopeptides and linezolid are the main agents used.

AREAS COVERED

This review assesses current treatment and the agents being developed for MRSA infections. A search was conducted in PubMed for English-language references published from 2000 to 2013, using combinations of the following terms: 'MRSA', 'MRSA therapy', 'gram (+) infections therapy', 'new antibiotics', 'vancomycin', 'staphylococcus resistance', 'oritavancin', 'ceftaroline', 'linezolid' and 'tigecycline'. The clinicalTrials website was also searched with keywords regarding the new antibiotic agents against MRSA infections.

EXPERT OPINION

There are a number of new agents, the place of which in therapeutic regimens is yet to emerge. New glycopeptides, such as dalbavancin and oritavancin, with long half-lives, enabling once-weekly dosing, and oral agents, such as iclaprim, may provide a treatment approach for outpatient therapy. A decision must be made regarding the most suitable agent for an individual patient, the site of infection and the place of therapy.