An oral or intravenous antibiotic used to treat serious bacterial infections, including MRSA.
VANCOCIN is indicated for the treatment of Clostridioides difficil e-associated diarrhea. VANCOCIN is also used for the treatment of enterocolitis caused by Staphylococcus aureus (including methicillin-resistant strains) in adult and pediatric patients less than 18 years of age. Limitations of Use • Parenteral administration of vancomycin is not effective for the above infections; therefore, VANCOCIN must be given orally for these infections. • Orally administered VANCOCIN is not effective for other types of infections. To reduce the development of drug-resistant bacteria and maintain the effectiveness of VANCOCIN and other antibacterial drugs, VANCOCIN should be used only to treat or prevent infections that are proven or strongly suspected to be caused by susceptible bacteria. When culture and susceptibility information are available, they should be considered in selecting or modifying…
12.1 Mechanism of Action Vancomycin is an antibacterial drug [see Microbiology ( 12.4 )] .
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Plain-English summaries and drug-class explainers are written and reviewed by the Priya Life Science editorial team, led by Sreepriya Prasannan (MSc Digital Transformation of Life Sciences (Innopharma Education / Griffith College); MSc & BSc Botany). Data is retrieved automatically from the sources above and cross-checked with AI-assisted verification (Anthropic's Claude) — brand and generic names are matched against the exact FDA product record so that a combination product or a different formulation cannot be mistaken for the drug on this page. An editor reviews the result before publication. We describe this in full in our editorial standards and corrections policy. The FDA data on this page was last retrieved on 11 Aug 2026.