Agar dilution MIC methodology was used to test the activities of GV 118819X (sanfetrinem), ampicillin, amoxicillin, amoxicillin-clavulanate, cefpodoxime, loracarbef, levofloxacin, clarithromycin, ceftriaxone, imipenem, and vancomycin against 53 penicillin-susceptible, 84 penicillin-intermediate and 74 penicillin-resistant pneumococci isolated in the United States. GV 118819X was the most active oral beta-lactam, with MIC at which 50% of the isolates were inhibited (MIC50)/MIC90 values of 0.008/0.03, 0.06/0.5, and 0.5/1.0 micrograms/ml against penicillin-susceptible, -intermediate, and -resistant stains, respectively. Amoxicillin and amoxicillin in the presence of clavulanate (2:1) were the second most-active oral beta-lactams, followed by ampicillin and cefpodoxime; loracarbef was not active against penicillin-intermediate and -resistant strains. Clarithromycin was most active against penicillin-susceptible strains but was less active against intermediate and resistant stains. All pneumococcal stains were inhibited by ceftriaxone and imipenem at MICs of < or = 4.0 and < or = 1.0 micrograms/ml, respectively. The activities of levofloxacin and vancomycin were unaffected by penicillin susceptibility. Time-kill studies of three penicillin-susceptible, three penicillin-intermediate, and three penicillin-resistant pneumococci showed that all compounds, at the broth microdilution MIC, yielded 99.9% killing of all strains after 24 h. Kinetic patterns of all oral beta-lactams, ceftriaxone, and vancomycin were similar relative to the MIC, with 90% killing of all strains first observed after 12 h. However, killing by amoxicillin-clavulanate, imipenem, and levofloxacin was slightly faster and that by clarithromycin was slower than that by the above-described drugs. At 2 x the MIC, more strains were killed earlier than was the case at the MIC, but the pattern seen at the MIC prevailed. When MICs and kill kinetics were combined, sanfetrinem was the most active oral antipneumococcal agent in this study.