Tazobactam

Tazobactam is a b-lactamase inhibitor. Its main role is to protect b-lactam antibiotics from degradation by bacterial b-lactamases, while it has no significant antibacterial activity of its own. Tazobactam is also a compound containing a b-lactam ring and is structurally similar to penicillin, although its antibacterial activity is very weak. When bacterial b-lactamase attacks the b-lactam ring of tazobactam, tazobactam forms an irreversible inhibitory complex that inactivates the enzyme, thereby protecting a co-administered b-lactam antibiotic from b-lactamase-mediated attack.