title: Beta-lactamase inhibitors and reversal of antibiotic resistance.
abstract: The resistance of bacteria to beta-lactam antibiotics is usually associated with production of the enzyme, beta-lactamase, which inactivates the beta-lactam molecule. In the long search for inhibitors of bacterial beta-lactamase the first clinically useful agent, clavulanic acid, was isolated as a metabolite of Streptomyces clavuligerus. Robert Sutherland describes the background to the demonstration of clinical efficacy of combinations of clavulanic acid and other agents with penicillins which has confirmed beta-lactamase inhibitors as one solution to the problems posed by beta-lactamase-producing bacteria.
authors.affiliation: Anti-infectives Product Support Unit, SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals, Betchworth, Surrey, UK.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sutherland
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D065093:beta-Lactamase Inhibitors; D047090:beta-Lactams
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D065093:beta-Lactamase Inhibitors; D047090:beta-Lactams