Pharmacokinetic drug evaluation of avibactam + ceftazidime for the treatment of hospital-acquired pneumonia

ABSTRACTIntroduction: Ceftazidime-avibactam (CAZ-AVI) is a combination of a third-generation cephalosporin and a non-β-lactam, β-lactamase inhibitor, recently approved for urinary tract infections and complicated abdominal infections. Moreover, it represents a treatment option for patients with hospital acquired pneumonia (HAP), especially when caused by multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria.Areas covered: The review focuses on the pharmacokinetics (PK) of CAZ-AVI in HAP and on preclinical and clinical studies evaluating PK/pharmacodynamics (PD) in this field.Expert opinion: In vitro and in vivo data about PK/PD of CAZ-AVI confirm that penetration of CAZ-AVI in the epithelial lining fluid (ELF) represents approximately 30% of the plasma concentrations. Clinical studies documented that CAZ-AVI 2000 mg/500 mg every 8 h is the optimal dose regimen to achieve the PK/PD target attainment in patients with HAP. Thus, CAZ-AVI could represent an option both to treat HAP caused by Gram-negative bacilli (GNB) displayin...