New evidence in severe pneumonia: imipenem/cilastatin/relebactam

ABSTRACT

Imipenem combined with beta-lactamase inhibitor relebactam (IMI/REL) has an extensive bactericidal activity againstGram-negative pathogens producing class A or class C beta-lactamases, not active against class B and class D. The phase3 clinical trial (RESTORE-IMI-2), double-blind, randomized,evaluated IMI/REL vs. piperacillin-tazobactam (PIP/TAZ) fortreatment of hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) and ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), demonstrated non-inferiorityat all-cause mortality at 28 days (15.9% vs 21.3%), favorable clinical response at 7-14 days end of treatment (61% vs59.8%) and with minor serious adverse effects (26.7% vs 32%).IMI/REL is a therapeutic option in HAP and VAP at approveddosage imipenem 500 mg, cilastatin 500 mg and relebactam250 mg once every 6h, by an IV infusion over 30 min (AU)