In vitro antibacterial activity of FK482, a new orally active cephalosporin.

FK482 is a new orally active cephem antibiotic which offers some advantages over the commercially available oral beta-lactam antibiotics. It displayed a broad spectrum of activity in vitro against stock strains of Gram-positive and Gram-negative aerobes and anaerobes. FK482 was more active in vitro than cefixime (CFIX), cefaclor (CCL) or cephalexin (CEX) against clinical isolates of Gram-positive organisms such as methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus, coagulase-negative Staphylococci including Staphylococcus epidermidis and strains of the Streptococcus group. Moderate activity was found against methicillin-resistant S. aureus and Enterococcus faecalis. Against clinical isolates of many Gram-negative species, including opportunistic pathogens, FK482 had good in vitro activity similar or slightly inferior to that of CFIX but superior to that of CCL or CEX. However, it was clearly inferior to CFIX in activity against Serratia marcescens, and was inactive against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Strains of S. aureus resistant to methicillin were moderately susceptible to FK482. All tested strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae resistant to CCL and CEX were susceptible to FK482, as were all the strains of Escherichia coli, Proteus mirabilis, Haemophilus influenzae and Branhamella catarrhalis resistant to amoxicillin (AMPC). FK482, like CFIX, was relatively stable to all type of beta-lactamases except Bacteroides fragilis and its stability was superior to that of CCL or CEX. The antibacterial activity of FK482 against CSH2 strains containing ampicillin-resistance plasmids was not affected by the presence of the ampicillin resistance determinants. FK482 showed higher affinity for the penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) (3, 2 and 1) of S. aureus than did CFIX, CCL and CEX. FK482 also showed very high affinity for the PBPs (2 and 3) of E. faecalis and PBPs (3, 1a, 4, 2 and 1 bs) of E. coli. The bactericidal activity of FK482 against S. aureus was almost as strong as that of AMPC and superior to that of CCL or CEX. Against Gram-negative bacteria such as E. coli, K. pneumoniae and P. mirabilis, FK482 was similar to CFIX and superior to CCL and CEX in bactericidal activity.