Role of new antibiotics in extended-spectrum β-lactamase-, AmpC- infections

Extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBL)- and ampicillinase class C (AmpC)-producing Enterobacterales represent one of the major public threats of the current era. As a consequence, during the last decades there have been great efforts to develop new therapeutic agents against these microorganisms. The aim of this review is to summarize the clinical features associated with novel antibiotics with activity against ESBL- and AmpC-producing isolates.

There a number of therapeutic agents with activity against ESBL and AmpC than have been introduced and approved over the past few years. Ceftazidime-avibactam and ceftolozane-tazobactam are both carbapenem sparing agents that appear interesting alternatives for treatment of serious Gram-negative infections. Other new β-lactams/ β-lactamase inhibitors (e.g. cefepime-enmetazobactam; ceftaroline fosamil-avibactam; aztreonam-avibactam and cefepime-zidebactam) as well as eravacycline, omadacycline, and plazomicin are also promising agents for treatment of ESBL- and AmpC- infections, but further clinical data are needed to establish their efficacy in comparison to carbapenems. The role of carbapenems/ β-lactamase inhibitors remains to be clarified.

New therapeutic agents against ESBL- and AmpC-producing Enterobacterales have distinctive specificities and limitations that require further investigations. Future randomized clinical trials are required to define the best strategy for their use in patients with serious infections due to ESBL- and/or AmpC- infections.