The In Vitro Activity, Human Pharmacology, and Clinical Effectiveness of New beta-Lactam Antibiotics

There have been many factors which have caused proliferation of new ,B-Iactam compounds. The increasing resistance of gram-negative enteric bacteria to existing compounds has been a world wide phenomenon which has accelerated in the decade of the 1970s (1-3). There has been an in­ creased awareness of the toxic properties of the aminoglycosides and antibi­ otics of other classes (4). Finally, penicillins and cephalosporins are agents which lend themselves to modification which alters both microbiological activity as well as pharmacologic properties. Many structural modifications of the cephem nucleus have been produced since 1970. Moreover, new ,B-Iactam antibiotics with different ring systems have been isolated from natural sources (5) and others have been totally synthesized. This article will consider those cephalosporin agents about which there is sufficient information to determine their future clinical utility.