Novel β-Lactam/β-Lactamase Combination Versus Meropenem for Treating Nosocomial Pneumonia

This study reports the integrated analysis of two phase III studies of novel β-lactam/β-lactamase combination versus meropenem for treating nosocomial pneumonia (NP) including ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). The ASPECT-NP trial compared the efficacy and safety of ceftolozane-tazobactam versus meropenem for treating NP/VAP. The REPROVE trial compared ceftazidime-avibactam and meropenem in the treatment of NP/VAP. A total of 1528 patients (361 in the ceftolozane-tazobactam group; 405 in the ceftazidime-avibactam group; 762 in the meropenem group) were analyzed. The clinical cure rates at test-of-cure among the novel β-lactam/β-lactamase combinations group were non-inferior to those of the meropenem (70.7% vs. 72.1%, risk difference (RD) -0.01, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.06-0.05) in the clinical evaluable populations. Overall 28-day mortality did not differ between novel β-lactam/β-lactamase combinations and the meropenem group (RD, -0.02, 95% CI, -0.09 to 0.05). Regarding the microbiological eradication rate, novel β-lactam/β-lactamase combinations were non-inferior to meropenem for Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus mirabilis, Haemophilus influenzae, Staphylococcus marcescens, and Enterobacter cloacae. Finally, novel β-lactam/β-lactamase combinations had a similar risk of (i) treatment-emergent adverse events (RD, 0.02, 95% CI, -0.02 to 0.06), (ii) events leading to the discontinuation of the study drug (RD, 0.00, 95% CI, -0.02 to 0.03), (iii) severe adverse events (RD, 0.03, 95% CI, -0.01 to 0.07), and (iv) death (RD, 0.02, 95% CI, -0.02 to 0.05) when compared with meropenem group. In conclusion, our findings suggest that novel β-lactam/β-lactamase combinations of ceftolozane-tazobactam and ceftazidime-avibactam can be recommended as one of the therapeutic options in the treatment of NP/VAP.