Clinical profile of patients treated with cefepime/tazobactam: A new ß-lactam/ß-lactamase inhibitor combination

Objectives: Cefepime/tazobactam is a new ß-lactam/ß-lactamase inhibitor combination licensed for clinical use by Drugs Controller General of India. Aim of our study was to analyze the clinical efficacy and safety of cefepime/tazobactam in patients with sepsis. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first published clinical study on this drug. Materials and methods: A retrospective observational study on the efficacy and safety of cefepime/tazobactam was conducted at a tertiary care hospital, South India. Patients who had a clear source of infection, having a single organism as the causative agent and being treated with cefepime/tazobactam alone were analyzed for efficacy and those cases who had a clear source of infection but either had multiple organism grown or cultures being negative or those patients who received a combination of antibiotics were analyzed for the safety analysis. Results: Thirty two patients satisfied our study criteria. All 15 patients in the efficacy group (nine with ventilator associated pneumonia, three tracheitis, two bacteraemia and one with urosepsis) had complete clinical cure, with microbiological cure in cases where a repeat culture was indicated. There were no significant side effects in any of the evaluable 32 patients assessed for safety. Conclusion: Cefepime/tazobactam is a safe and effective agent to treat patients with nonlife threatening sepsis due to Gram negative bacteria. J Microbiol Infect Dis 2012; 2(3): 79-86