Basic pharmacodynamics of antibacterials with clinical applications to the use of β-lactams, glycopeptides, and linezolid

Pharmacodynamics (PDs) deals with the relationship between measures of drug exposure and the antimicrobial effect. Although different antimicrobials have been shown to vary in both their killing pattern and the presence and duration of persistent effects, drugs can still be divided into three major groups. The first group includes antibacterials that induce concentration-dependent killing and produce moderate to prolonged persistent effects. The second group is virtually the opposite of first group in that these drugs exhibit primarily time-dependent killing and produce minimal or no persistent effects with most organisms. The third and last group includes drugs that also have time-dependent killing but differ from the second group in that they produce moderate to prolonged persistent effects. This article focuses on the pharmacodynamics for beta-lactams, glycopeptides, and linezolid.