ampicillin + gentamicin (University of Florida)

The combination of ampicillin and gentamicin is a standard-of-care antibiotic regimen used for the pre-emptive treatment of suspected early-onset sepsis in neonates. Ampicillin is a beta-lactam antibiotic that inhibits bacterial cell wall synthesis by binding to penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs), while gentamicin is an aminoglycoside that inhibits protein synthesis by binding to the 30S ribosomal subunit. This specific combination is the focus of a Phase 2 clinical trial led by the University of Florida (NCT04112667) titled "Antibiotic Effects on the Developing Microbiome in Preterm Neonates." The study evaluates the impact of pre-emptive postnatal antibiotic exposure versus no pre-emptive antibiotics on the gut microbiome assembly, metabolic profiles, and clinical morbidities such as necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) and late-onset sepsis in preterm infants born at less than 33 weeks gestation.

Other names

pre-emptive antibioticspostnatal antibiotics