Vibativ — Compare Prices at US & Canada Pharmacies

Vibativ (telavancin) is a lipoglycopeptide — related to vancomycin but chemically modified to attack the bacterial cell membrane in addition to the cell wall, giving it a dual mechanism that can help it work against some vancomycin-resistant strains. It's approved for complicated skin and skin-structure infections and, more narrowly, for hospital-acquired and ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia caused by Staphylococcus aureus — but the pneumonia indication carries a specific instruction to reserve it for situations where alternative treatments aren't suitable, a direct result of the safety finding described below.

Vibativ's boxed warning is unusually specific: in the pivotal trials for hospital-acquired and ventilator-associated pneumonia, patients who had pre-existing moderate-to-severe kidney impairment before starting Vibativ had higher mortality compared with vancomycin. This finding means Vibativ is generally avoided in that pneumonia setting for patients with reduced kidney function unless the anticipated benefit clearly outweighs the risk — a narrower and more specific caution than the general nephrotoxicity warnings attached to most other reserve antibiotics. Vibativ is also genuinely nephrotoxic in its own right and can cause developmental harm in pregnancy, which is why the label calls for a negative pregnancy test before starting therapy in women of childbearing potential.

Like oritavancin (Orbactiv, Kimyrsa), telavancin interferes with certain coagulation lab tests — it can artificially prolong PT, INR, aPTT, and ACT results shortly after an infusion, an effect that fades as the drug clears. Because of this, IV unfractionated heparin is specifically contraindicated during Vibativ therapy, since the test used to guide heparin dosing (aPTT) can't be trusted while telavancin is on board.

Boxed warning

WARNING: INCREASED MORTALITY IN HABP/VABP PATIENTS WITH PRE-EXISTING MODERATE OR SEVERE RENAL IMPAIRMENT, NEPHROTOXICITY, POTENTIAL ADVERSE DEVELOPMENTAL OUTCOMES Patients with pre-existing moderate/severe renal impairment (CrCl ≤ 50 mL/min) who were treated with VIBATIV for hospital-acquired bacterial pneumonia/ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia (HABP/VABP) had increased mortality observed versus vancomycin. Use of VIBATIV in patients with pre-existing moderate/severe renal impairment (CrCl ≤ 50 mL/min) should be considered only when the anticipated benefit to the patient outweighs the potential risk [see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.1 , 8.4 )].

Contraindications

4 CONTRAINDICATIONS Intravenous Unfractionated Heparin Sodium ( 4.1 , 5.5 , 7.1 ) Known hypersensitivity to VIBATIV ( 4.2 , 5.6 , 6.2 ) 4.1 Intravenous Unfractionated Heparin Sodium Use of intravenous unfractionated heparin sodium is contraindicated with VIBATIV administration because the activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) test results are expected to be artificially prolonged for 0 to 18 hours after VIBATIV administration [ see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.5 ) and Drug Interactions (…

Pregnancy & breastfeeding

8.1 Pregnancy Risk Summary Based on findings in animal reproduction studies, VIBATIV may cause fetal harm. There are no available data on VIBATIV use in pregnant women to evaluate for a drug-associated risk of major birth defects, miscarriage, or adverse maternal or fetal outcomes.