β-lactam antimicrobial agents are highly effective against causative bacteria and have been used widely in the clinic. But
now the resistance of bacteria to them has become a very severe problem. The major mechanism of bacteria resistance to β-lactam antimicrobial agents is to produce lactamases which can hydrolyze the β-lactam ring of antimicrobial agents containing this feature. One of the methods to resolve the problem is to use
β-lactamase inhibitor , which can bind and inactivate clinically important β-lactamase. Use of broad spectrum β-lactamase inhibitor in combination with otherwise labile β-lactam compounds has become an established strategy to overcome enzymatic resistance to β-lactam agents. Of the many inhibitors that have been developed,
clavulanic acid , sulbactam and, most recently, tazobactam have been licensed in combination with appropriate β-lactam agents. BRL42715 is a newest β-lactamase inhibitor. Comparing the activity of them to inactivate β-lactamase, BRL42715 is the strongest, tazobactam and clavulanic acid secondly and then sulbactam . The clinical results also confirmed the point. .