# Piperacillin with tazobactam

Source: https://onco.cc/drugs/piperacillin-tazobactam/  
OnCo record `piperacillin-tazobactam` (Treatment). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Piperacillin with tazobactam is a broad-spectrum antibiotic drip. NICE recommends it as the first antibiotic for suspected neutropenic sepsis, a fever when white cells are low after chemotherapy.

## Summary

The Zosyn label covers intra-abdominal infections, nosocomial and community-acquired pneumonia, skin and skin structure infections and female pelvic infections. NICE CG151: "Offer beta lactam monotherapy with piperacillin with tazobactam as initial empiric antibiotic therapy to patients with suspected neutropenic sepsis who need intravenous treatment unless there are patient-specific or local microbiological contraindications." For neutropenic enterocolitis, AGIHO 2017 recommends piperacillin/tazobactam, imipenem/cilastatin or meropenem (BIII). The Zosyn NDA was approved on 22 October 1993.

## Fields

- Kind: Treatment
- Status: approved
- Last checked: 2026-11-11
- Also known as: pip-taz; piperacillin-tazobactam; Tazocin
- Tags: supportive; generic; supportive-care-gaps-2026-11
- Brand: Zosyn / Tazocin
- Modality: Penicillin-class antibacterial with a beta-lactamase inhibitor (intravenous)
- Mechanism: Piperacillin, a penicillin-class antibacterial, combined with tazobactam, a beta-lactamase inhibitor that protects it from bacterial enzymes.
- Approvals: US 1993: Intra-abdominal infections, nosocomial and community-acquired pneumonia, skin and skin structure infections, female pelvic infections

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piperacillin/tazobactam
- US label (DailyMed): Zosyn: https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=8db6bd91-2106-4bfd-8cc8-38aaf1e18d17
- NICE CG151: Neutropenic sepsis, prevention and management in people with cancer, recommendations: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg151/chapter/Recommendations
- Schmidt-Hieber et al., Diagnosis and management of gastrointestinal complications in adult cancer patients: AGIHO guideline update (Ann Hematol 2018): https://doi.org/10.1007/s00277-017-3183-7

## Connected records

- terms: [Febrile neutropenia](https://onco.cc/terms/febrile-neutropenia/), [Neutropenic enterocolitis (typhlitis)](https://onco.cc/terms/neutropenic-enterocolitis-typhlitis/)

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