This study aimed to examine specific niches and usage for the aztreonam/amoxicillin/clavulanate combination and to use population pharmacokinetic simulations of clinical dosing regimens to predict the impact of this combination on restricting mutant selection. The in vitro susceptibility of 19 New-Delhi metallo-β-lactamase (NDM)-producing clinical isolates to amoxicillin/clavulanate and aztreonam alone and in co-administration was determined based on the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and mutant prevention concentration (MPC). The fractions of a 24-h duration that the free drug concentration was within the mutant selection window (fTMSW) and above the MPC (fT>MPC) in both plasma and epithelial lining fluid were determined from simulations of 10,000 subject profiles based on regimens by renal function categories. This combination reduced the MIC of aztreonam and amoxicillin/clavulanate to values below their clinical breakpoint in 7/9 K. pneumoniae and 8/9 E. coli, depending on the β-lactamase genes detected in the isolate. In the majority of the tested isolates, the combination resulted in fT>MPC > 90% and fTMSW < 10% for both aztreonam and amoxicillin/clavulanate. Clinical dosing regimens of aztreonam and amoxicillin/clavulanate were sufficient to provide mutant restriction coverage for MPC and MIC ≤ 4 mg/L. This combination has limited coverage against NDM- and extended-spectrum β-lactamase co-producing E. coli and K. pneumoniae and is not effective against isolates carrying plasmid-mediated AmpC and KPC-2. This study offers a potential scope and limitations as to where the aztreonam/amoxicillin/clavulanate combination may succeed or fail.
Keywords: Escherichia coli; Klebsiella pneumoniae; MPC; NDM; pharmacodynamics.