Spectrum and potency of ceftaroline tested against leading pathogens causing community-acquired respiratory tract infections in Europe (2010).

Ceftaroline, the active metabolite of the prodrug ceftaroline fosamil, is a novel cephalosporin exhibiting in vitro bactericidal activity against Gram-positive organisms, including Streptococcus pneumoniae and methicillin-susceptible and -resistant Staphylococcus aureus, as well as common Gram-negative organisms. The objective of this study was to determine the spectrum and potency of ceftaroline against recent leading pathogens causing community-acquired respiratory tract infections (CARTI) isolated in Europe. A total of 1563 isolates from the 2010 Assessing Worldwide Antimicrobial Resistance Evaluation (AWARE) Program were identified as CARTI pathogens by the infection type and/or specimen type recorded by the participating laboratory. Isolates were collected from patients in 52 medical centers located in 19 European countries (including Israel and Turkey). Susceptibility testing for ceftaroline and commonly used antimicrobials was performed by Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) broth microdilution methodology. Susceptibility interpretations for comparators were as published in CLSI and the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing guidelines, and for ceftaroline US-FDA breakpoints were also applied. Ceftaroline was very active overall against 799 S. pneumoniae (MIC(50/90,) ≤ 0.008/0.12 μg/mL) and inhibited 100.0% of all isolates at a MIC ≤ 0.5 μg/mL. Ceftaroline was very potent against penicillin-resistant (CLSI oral penicillin V breakpoints) and -intermediate S. pneumoniae (MIC(50/90), 0.12/0.25 and 0.03/0.12 μg/mL, respectively), but potency was lower than observed against penicillin-susceptible isolates (MIC(50/90), ≤ 0.008/≤ 0.008 μg/mL). Ceftaroline was also very active (MIC(50/90), ≤ 0.008/0.015 μg/mL) against 515 Haemophilus influenzae, including β-lactamase-producing strains (MIC(50/90), 0.015/0.06 μg/mL). Ceftaroline also demonstrated good activity against 205 Moraxella catarrhalis isolates (MIC(50/90), 0.06/0.12 μg/mL). This study demonstrated the potent in vitro activity of ceftaroline against contemporary pathogens isolated from patients with documented CARTI from Europe. These data suggest that ceftaroline fosamil has an acceptable in vitro spectrum and potency against CARTI pathogens.