New Anti-CRE Antibiotics Used for 35 Percent of Infections

Currently, new anti-carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) antibiotics are estimated to treat 35 percent of CRE infections in which they were expected to be used as first-line agents, according to a study published in the August issue of Open Forum Infectious Diseases.

Cornelius J. Clancy, M.D., from the University of Pittsburgh, and colleagues surveyed U.S. hospital-based pharmacists to examine antibiotic use against CRE infections.

The researchers found that at 87, 90, 83, and 56 percent of surveyed U.S. hospitals, ceftazidime-avibactam, meropenem-vaborbactam, or plazomicin were positioned as first-line agents against CRE pneumonia, bacteremia, intra-abdominal infections, and urinary tract infections, respectively. An estimated 9,437 and 7,941 CRE infections were treated with an intravenous polymyxin or new agent, respectively, from February 2018 to January 2019, representing about 28 and 23 percent of CRE infections, respectively. As of December 2018, use of ceftazidime-avibactam, meropenem-vaborbactam, or plazomicin exceeded that of intravenous polymyxins against CRE infections. New drugs are currently expected to treat 35 percent of the CRE infections in which they were expected to be first-line agents.

"Infectious diseases specialists and professional societies have vital roles to play in shaping public policy, educating health care providers, and developing timely guidelines for the most appropriate use of new and older antibiotics," the authors write. "At this point, guidelines should explicitly state that polymyxins are not standard first-line agents against CRE infections."

Several authors disclosed financial ties to the biopharmaceutical industry.

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