Telavancin: uses, dosing, side effects & brands
Telavancin is a medicine sold in the U.S. under one brand, for pneumonia, infectious skin diseases and staphylococcal infections. Below: what the FDA label says, every product that contains it, what the pills look like, and its recall record.
Key facts
- Treats
- Pneumonia, Infectious Skin Diseases and Staphylococcal Infections
- Available as
- Injectable
- Sold as
- Vibativ
- Prescription?
- Prescription only
- Generic available?
- Not in our catalog
- Boxed warning
- Boxed warning
How telavancin is dosed
From the FDA label for Vibativ (application NDA022110). Other telavancin products — different forms, different strengths — are dosed differently. Follow the label for the one you were prescribed.
Complicated skin and skin structure infections (cSSSI): 10 mg/kg by IV infusion over 60 minutes every 24 hours for 7 to 14 days ( 2.1 ) Dosage adjustment in patients with renal impairment. ( 2.3 ) Hospital-acquired and ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia (HABP/VABP): 10 mg/kg by IV infusion over 60 minutes every 24 hours for 7 to 21 days ( 2.2 ) Dosage adjustment in patients with renal impairment. ( 2.3 ) a Calculate using the Cockcroft-Gault formula and ideal body weight (IBW). Use actual body weight if < IBW. ( 12.3 ) Creatinine Clearance a (CrCl) (mL/min) VIBATIV Dosage Regimen >50 10 mg/kg every 24 hours 30-50 7.5 mg/kg every 24 hours 10-<30 10 mg/kg every 48 hours Insufficient data are available to make a dosing recommendation for patients with CrCl <10 mL/min, including patients on hemodialysis. 2.1 Complicated Skin and Skin Structure Infections The recommended dosing for VIBATIV is 10 mg/kg administered over a 60-minute period in patients ≥18 years of age by intravenous infusion once every 24 hours for 7 to 14 days. The duration of therapy should be guided by the severity and site of the infection and the patient's clinical progress. 2.2 Hospital-Acquired Bacterial Pneumonia/Ventilator-Associated Bacterial Pneumonia (HABP/VABP) The recommended dosing for VIBATIV is 10 mg/kg administered over a 60-minute period in patients ≥18 years of age by intravenous infusion…
Telavancin side effects
The following serious adverse reactions are also discussed elsewhere in the labeling: Nephrotoxicity [ see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.3 ) ] Infusion-related reactions [ see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.7 ) ] Clostridium difficile -associated diarrhea [ see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.8 ) ] Because clinical trials are conducted under widely varying conditions, adverse reaction rates observed in the clinical trials of a drug cannot be directly compared to rates in the clinical trials of another drug and may not reflect the rates observed in practice. Most common adverse reaction (≥10% of patients treated with VIBATIV) in the HABP/VABP trials is diarrhea; in the cSSSI trials, the most common adverse reactions (≥10% of patients treated with VIBATIV) include: taste disturbance, nausea, vomiting, and foamy urine. ( 6.1 ) To report SUSPECTED ADVERSE REACTIONS, contact Cumberland Pharmaceuticals Inc. at 1-877-683-6110 or FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088 or www.fda.gov/medwatch. 6.1 Clinical Trials Experience Complicated Skin and Skin Structure Infections The two Phase 3 cSSSI clinical trials (Trial 1 and Trial 2) for VIBATIV included 929 adult patients treated with VIBATIV at 10 mg/kg IV once daily. The mean age of patients treated with VIBATIV was 49 years (range 18-96). There was a slight male predominance (56%) in patients treated with VIBATIV, and patients were predominantly Caucasian…
Who shouldn’t take telavancin
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 ( 7.1 ) ]. 4.2 Known Hypersensitivity to VIBATIV VIBATIV is contraindicated in patients with known hypersensitivity to telavancin.
Telavancin drug interactions
7.1 Drug-Laboratory Test Interactions Effects of Telavancin on Coagulation Test Parameters Telavancin binds to the artificial phospholipid surfaces added to common anticoagulation tests, thereby interfering with the ability of the coagulation complexes to assemble on the surface of the phospholipids and promote clotting in vitro . These effects appear to depend on the type of reagents used in commercially available assays. Thus, when measured shortly after completion of an infusion of VIBATIV, increases in the PT, INR, aPTT, and ACT have been observed. These effects dissipate over time, as plasma concentrations of telavancin decrease. Urine Protein Tests Telavancin interferes with urine qualitative dipstick protein assays, as well as quantitative dye methods (e.g., pyrogallol red-molybdate). However, microalbumin assays are not affected and can be used to monitor urinary protein excretion during VIBATIV treatment.
Every telavancin product we track (1)
Same active ingredient — different manufacturer, form, price and FDA recall record. That last one is what our independent score measures.
Only one: Vibativ.
Telavancin and breastfeeding
From LactMed, the US National Library of Medicine’s Drugs and Lactation Database — quoted, not rewritten.
Full LactMed record for telavancin: levels in milk, effects in breastfed infants, and the drugs it would consider insteadNo information is available on the use of telavancin during breastfeeding. Telavancin is 93% plasma protein bound and is poorly absorbed orally, so it is not likely to appear in milk in large amounts, reach the infant’s bloodstream or cause any adverse effects in breastfed infants. If telavancin is required by the mother, it is not a reason to discontinue breastfeeding. Monitor the infant for possible effects on the gastrointestinal tract, such as diarrhea, vomiting, and candidiasis (e.g., thrush, diaper rash).
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, record revised December 15, 2024. LactMed states its information is not a substitute for professional judgement.
What people report to the FDA about telavancin
The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) collects reports from patients and clinicians. It holds 19 reports naming telavancin, and the FDA flagged 42% of those reports as serious. The effects reported most often — leaving out reports about overdose, misuse or the condition being treated, which dominate the raw list for common medicines:
- renal failure acute9 reports
- blood creatinine increased2 reports
- bone marrow failure2 reports
- leukopenia2 reports
- neutropenia2 reports
- pruritus generalised2 reports
- ageusia1 reports
- arthritis bacterial1 reports
Read these as a signal, not a rate. A report does not mean telavancin caused the effect — anyone can file one, and many describe people taking several medicines for several conditions. Crucially there is no denominator: FAERS does not record how many people took the drug, so these counts cannot be turned into “X% of patients” — a bigger number often just means a more widely used or more talked-about drug. Duplicates exist, and publicity drives reporting. For what is actually established, read the FDA label section above.
Source: openFDA drug/event (FAERS), retrieved July 26, 2026.
Related calculators
Frequently asked questions
What is telavancin?
VIBATIV contains telavancin hydrochloride ( Figure 1 ), a lipoglycopeptide antibacterial that is a synthetic derivative of vancomycin.
Can you take telavancin with other medicines?
It depends on the medicine. We check it against the FDA labels rather than guessing: our interaction checker searches each drug's own label for the other and quotes what it says, naming the section it came from. Run telavancin against whatever else you take — and remember that a label not naming a drug is not the same as that combination being safe.
What forms does telavancin come in?
Across the brands we track, telavancin is currently marketed as injectable, per the FDA's National Drug Code Directory. Each form is dosed differently — follow the label for the exact product you were prescribed.
Is there a generic telavancin?
We do not currently list a generic-labelled telavancin product. That does not always mean none exists — it means none appears under a generic name in the FDA data we track. Ask your pharmacist.
Cite this page
- APA
- pharmaranks. (2026, July 24). Telavancin: uses, dosing, side effects & brands. https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/telavancin
- MLA
- “Telavancin: uses, dosing, side effects & brands.” pharmaranks, 24 July 2026, https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/telavancin.
We summarise public FDA and NIH sources — for a clinical claim, cite the primary source we link to as well.
Sources: FDA openFDA drug label, National Drug Code Directory, and Enforcement (recall) database. This page reproduces public FDA data and is not medical advice. Dosing is set by your prescriber.
Read the full FDA label for telavancin on DailyMed (NIH) ↗ — including its boxed warning in full.