FDA approves new MRSA drug dalbavancin

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new drug treatment to combat Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, and other bacterial skin infections.

The drug, to be marketed as Dalvance (dalbavancin), is the first intravenous treatment that is administered once a week instead of once or twice a day, noted an announcement from Durata Therapeutics, the drug’s manufacturer.

The drug was the first to be labeled as a qualified infectious disease product, which made it eligible for expedited review under the Generating Antibiotics Incentives Now (GAIN) Act, passed by Congress in 2012 to help fast-track development of new antibiotics to combat the growing pool of drug-resistant microbes.

The drug is expected to hit the market later this year.

Pamela Tabar

Pamela Tabar was editor-in-chief of I Advance Senior Care from 2013-2018. She has worked as a writer and editor for healthcare business media since 1998, including as News Editor of Healthcare Informatics. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Kent State University and a master’s degree in English from the University of York, England.