Although it varies from country to country, there is a worrying worldwide increase in antibiotic resistance among pathogens causing otitis. This has led to a search for therapeutic alternatives to the reference treatment, which is still amoxicillin in many countries. Cefpodoxime proxetil is one such alternative. Six comparative randomized trials of cefpodoxime proxetil in childhood acute otitis media have been published or presented at international conferences. They involved a total of 1188 patients, 658 of whom received cefpodoxime proxetil and 530 of whom received the comparator drug (amoxicillin/clavulanic acid in 3 trials, cefaclor in 1, and cefixime in 2); duration of treatment varied from 5 days for cefpodoxime proxetil to 10 days for amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, and the age of the children included ranged from 2 months to 12 years. The clinical efficacy of cefpodoxime proxetil was at least equivalent to that of the comparators in 4 trials and significantly better in 2 trials. Firstly, in one study vs. amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, the superiority of cefpodoxime proxetil (8 mg/kg/day twice daily) in terms of healing at the end of treatment and in terms of the number of normal tympanograms at the follow-up visit was shown. Secondly, in a study performed by our group, vs. cefixime, cefpodoxime proxetil (8 mg/kg/day twice daily) showed a better healing rate at the end of treatment in febrile and painful acute otitis media. The microbiologic and pharmacokinetic data show that cefpodoxime proxetil is one of the most active compounds against Haemophilus influenzae and Streptococcus pneumoniae.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)