September 16, 2025
At a Glance
- Two doses of the antibiotic dalbavancin produced results similar to standard 4- to 8-week intravenous treatment for complicated bloodstream infections of Staphylococcus aureus.
- The long-acting drug could provide an effective alternative with fewer burdens and potential complications.
An NIH-supported clinical trial found that the long-acting drug dalbavancin can be an effective, less burdensome alternative to traditional antibiotics for treating complicated blood infections of Staphylococcus aureus, shown here.
Saiful52 / Shutterstock
Staphylococcus aureus, or “staph,” is the leading cause of bacterial bloodstream infection-related deaths worldwide. For infections of the blood, standard treatment usually requires IV antibiotics for many weeks. During treatment, a long IV line or intravenous catheter must remain inserted into a vein. This can limit a patient’s daily activities and lead to blood clots or secondary infections.
A group of researchers led by Dr. Nicholas A. Turner at Duke University set out to compare standard treatment for staph bloodstream infections with dalbavancin therapy. Dalbavancin is a long-acting antibiotic administered as two doses a week apart that then remains active in the bloodstream for 4 to 6 weeks. Treatment with dalbavancin requires a catheter inserted for only 1 hour during each dose.
The research team enrolled 200 adults from 23 sites in the U.S. and Canada. All had been hospitalized with S. aureus bacteremia. They had initially received 3 to 10 days of preliminary treatment with an anti-staph antibiotic.
Participants were randomly divided into two groups. Half were given two doses of IV dalbavancin 1 week apart. The others were given standard IV treatment for 4 to 8 weeks. Standard antibiotics included cefazolin, anti-staphylococcal penicillin, vancomycin, or daptomycin. Results were published in JAMA on August 13, 2025.
The researchers found that the two-dose dalbavancin treatment had similar results to the traditional treatment. The team had hoped to find that treatment with dalbavancin was the better therapy. However, it proved slightly safer and equally effective, and may be more suitable for those patients who wish to avoid the inconvenience or risks associated with long-term IV catheters.
“Our findings give patients and health care providers the data to support an extra choice when deciding on treatment for complicated S. aureus bacteremia,” Turner says.
“Dalbavancin offers a way to complete therapy without the hassle and hazards of long-term IV access,” adds study coauthor Dr. Thomas L. Holland. “That’s a meaningful shift in how we care for people with serious infections.”
—by Yolanda L. Jones
Related Links
References
Antibacterial Resistance Leadership Group. Dalbavancin for Treatment of Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia: The DOTS Randomized Clinical Trial. Turner NA, Hamasaki T, Doernberg SB, Lodise TP, King HA, Ghazaryan V, Cosgrove SE, Jenkins TC, Liu C, Sharma S, Zaharoff S, Wahid L, Renard VJ, Cook P, Raad I, Hachem R, Chaftari AM, Sims M, DeMarco C, Miller LG, McCarthy MW, Morse CG, Lucasti C, Forrest GN, Cherabuddi K, Polk C, Fazili T, Rupp ME, Thompson GR 3rd, Kim K, Strnad L, Schnee AE, McKinnell JA, Ramesh M, Silveira FP, McCarty TP, Lee TC, McDonald EG, Paolino K, Wiegand K, Wall A, Riccobene T, Patel R, Rappo U, Evans S, Chambers HF, Fowler VG Jr, Holland TL. JAMA. 2025 Aug 13:e2512543. doi: 10.1001/jama.2025.12543. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40802264.
Funding
NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID); AbbVie.