A review of the adverse events profile of cefpirome.

Cefpirome is a new fourth generation injectable cephalosporin antibiotic. Its tolerability profile was established in a programme of 16 clinical studies involving 3103 patients in Europe and the US. The overall incidence of clinical adverse events with cefpirome was 21.9% compared with 27.1% with comparators (ceftazidime, imipenem, ceftriaxone). Adverse events thought possibly related to treatment occurred in 12.5% of patients receiving cefpirome and 13.7% of recipients of comparator agents. Withdrawals from treatment due to adverse events occurred in 5.1 and 5.0% of patients receiving cefpirome and comparators, respectively. The commonest adverse events thought possibly related to treatment were gastrointestinal symptoms (mainly diarrhoea in 1.6 and 1.7%, respectively) and rash (1.4 and 1.4%, respectively). Comparison with data obtained from the literature for ceftazidime, ceftriaxone and the third generation cephalosporins in general shows that the adverse event profile of cefpirome is similar to that of other broad-spectrum injectable cephalosporins.