title: Comparative in vitro activity of biapenem, a new carbapenem antibiotic.
abstract: Biapenem is a new carbapenem antibiotic with high stability to human renal dehydropeptidase I. Its in vitro activity was compared with that of imipenem, meropenem, ceftazidime, ceftriaxone, piperacillin and gentamicin against a total of 650 recent clinical isolates. MICs were determined by a standard agar dilution procedure and all isolates were tested at two inocula (10(4) and 10(6) cfu). Biapenem inhibited 90% of isolates of Escherichia coli, Klebsiella spp., Proteus mirabilis, Proteus vulgaris, Morganella morganii, Providencia stuartii, Enterobacter spp., Citrobacter freundii, Serratia marcescens, Salmonella typhi, Shigella sonnei and Yersinia enterocolitica at < or = 2 mg/l and was as active as or two- to four-fold more active than imipenem against all these species, with the exception of Serratia marcescens, against which imipenem was two-fold more active. Biapenem was two-fold more active than imipenem against Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MIC90 4 mg/l) and had activity similar to that of imipenem against the Bacteroides fragilis group (MIC90 0.5 mg/l) but was two-fold less active than imipenem against methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MIC90 0.06 mg/l) and was, like imipenem, inactive against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
authors.affiliation: Division of Medical Microbiology, St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Clarke
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Zemcov
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects*; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D005839:Gentamicins / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D013845:Thienamycins / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D005839:Gentamicins; D013845:Thienamycins; C065257:biapenem