Current trends in the real-life use of dalbavancin: report of a study panel

Dalbavancin is a novel lipoglycopeptide antibiotic with a chemical structure similar to teicoplanin. Dalbavancin has been approved and marketed since 2014 in the USA and 2015 in the European Union for the treatment of acute bacterial skin and skin-structure infections (ABSSSIs) caused by Gram-positive cocci. ABSSSIs include infectious syndromes such as erysipelas, cellulitis, major cutaneous abscesses that require incision and drainage, and both surgical and traumatic wound infections. In current clinical practice, dalbavancin is also used for cardiac implantable electronic device-related soft tissue infection and other prosthetic infections, and therefore when the presence of biofilm is a concern. In this review, we aimed to highlight our experience with the use of dalbavancin for some of the most hard-to-treat Gram-positive infections, as well as a promising strategy in terms of pharmacoeconomic effectiveness. We describe our current real-life clinical practice with the use of dalbavancin, depicting a few representative clinical cases in order to share our own practice in the hospital setting.