Beta-lactamase inhibitors are a class of medicine that block the activity of beta-lactamase enzymes (also called beta-lactamases), preventing the degradation of beta-lactam antibiotics. They tend to have little antibiotic activity on their own.
Beta-lactamase enzymes are produced by certain strains of the following bacteria: Bacteroides species, Enterococcus species, Hemophilus influenzae, Moraxella catarrhalis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and Staphylococcus species, either constitutively or on exposure to antimicrobials.
Beta-lactamases cleave the beta-lactam ring of susceptible penicillins and cephalosporins, inactivating the antibiotic. Some antimicrobials (eg, cefazolin and cloxacillin) are naturally resistant to certain beta-lactamases. The activity of the beta-lactams: amoxicillin, ampicillin, piperacillin, and ticarcillin, can be restored and widened by combining them with a beta-lactamase inhibitor.
Clavulanic acid, sulbactam, and tazobactam are all beta-lactamase inhibitors.
