The in vitro activities of cefpiramide and apalcillin were compared with those of other third-generation cephalosporins and extended-spectrum penicillins against over 1,000 clinical bacterial isolates. The activity of cefpiramide against Pseudomonas aeruginosa was comparable to those of piperacillin and cefoperazone, inhibiting 90% of strains at concentrations sl6.0 ,ug/ml. This drug was also active against a broad range of gram-negative organisms but was generally less active than many of the other cephalosporins tested against members of the family Enterobacteriaceae. The activity of cefpiramide against gram-positive organisms was comparable to that of cefoperazone. Apalcillin, along with ceftazidime, was the most active agent tested against P. aeruginosa and Acinetobacter calcoaceticus subsp. anitratus, inhibiting 90% of these strains at concentrations <8 ,Lg/ml. Against other gram-negative and gram-positive organisms, its activity was similar to that of piperacillin. The activities of both cefpiramide and apalcillin were significantly reduced by the presence of several plasmid-mediated j-lactamases in a series of otherwise isogenic strains of P. aeruginosa in comparison with their activities against a parent strain which lacks these enzymes. Many strains of Enterobacter cloacae were synergistically inhibited by the combination of gentamicin with either cefpiramide (5 of 10 strains) or apalcillin (6 of 10 strains). Most strains of P. aeruginosa were synergistically inhibited by the combination of gentamicin with either cefpiramide (8 of 10 strains) or apalcillin (10 of 10 strains). However, cefoxitin antagonized the activity of both cefpiramide and apalcillin against most of these same strains.Cefpiramide (SM-1652, WY-44,635) is a new semisynthetic cephalosporin that is structurally related to cefoperazone. A number of recent studies have documented its broad spectrum of activity against both gram-negative and gram-positive organisms. Compared with other cephalosporins, it is particularly active against Pseudomonas aeruginosa (6,8,14). In addition, cefpiramide has a half-life of approximately 4.5 h in humans, which is significantly longer than those of other third-generation cephalosporins, such as ceftazidime and cefoperazone, but shorter than that of ceftriaxone (10).Apalcillin (PC-904) is a naphthyridine derivative of ampicillin. Its spectrum of activity is similar to that of piperacillin, although it exhibits greater activity against P. aeruginosa than does piperacillin (1,5,12,13). Apalcillin also differs from piperacillin in having a slightly longer half-life and in being largely eliminated by hepatobiliary mechanisms (9).In the present study, we examined the in vitro activity of both cefpiramide and apalcillin against more than 1,000 routine clinical isolates of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria as well as organisms selected for resistance to multiple antibiotics. The activity of these two agents was also tested in combination with other P-lactams and gentamicin.