Lipopeptides as anti-infectives: a practical perspective

Lipopeptide antibiotics represent an old class of antibiotics that were discovered over 50 years ago, which includes the old polymyxins but also new entries, such as the recently approved daptomycin. They generally consist of a hydrophilic cyclic peptide portion attached to a fatty acid chain which facilitates insertion into the lipid bilayer of bacterial membranes. This review presents an overview of this class of antibiotics, focusing on their therapeutic applications and putting particular emphasis on chemical modifications introduced to improve their activity.