Emerging drugs for nosocomial pneumonia.

INTRODUCTION

Hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) is one of the leading nosocomial infections worldwide and is associated with an elevated morbidity and mortality and increased hospital costs. Nevertheless, prompt and adequate antimicrobial treatment is mandatory following VAP development, especially in the face of multidrug resistant pathogens.

AREAS COVERED: We searched Pubmed and ClinicalTrials.gov site reports in English language of phase III clinical trials, between 2000-2016 referring to the antibiotic treatment of nosocomial pneumonia. We provide a summary of latest approved drugs for HAP and emerging drugs with potential indication nosocomial pneumonia.

EXPERT OPINION: There are several promising compounds on their way, as tedizolid-a new oxazolidone, iclaprim-a novel drug, related to trimethoprim, plazomicin-a new aminoglycoside and two combinations of ceftazidime/avibactam and ceftolozane/tazobactam against MDR bacteria, especially against MRSA and Gram-negative ESBL bacteria.