Pharmacokinetics

Intramuscular injections of nafcillin sodium, USP 1 gram produced peak serum levels in 0.5 to 1 hour of 7.61 mcg/mL. The degree of protein binding reported has been 89.9 +/-1.5%. With normal doses nafcillin is found in therapeutic concentrations in the pleural, bile, and amniotic fluids. Insignificant concentrations are found in the cerebrospinal fluid and aqueous humor. Blood concentrations may be tripled by the concurrent use of probenecid. Clinical studies with nafcillin sodium in infants under three days of age and prematures have revealed higher blood levels and slower rates of urinary excretion than in older children and adults. A high concentration of nafcillin sodium is excreted via the bile. About 30% of an intramuscular dose is excreted in the urine.

Microbiology

Penicillinase-resistant penicillins exert a bactericidal action against penicillin-susceptible microorganisms during the state of active multiplication. All penicillins inhibit the biosynthesis of the bacterial cell wall. The drugs in this class are highly resistant to inactivation by staphylococcal penicillinase and are active against penicillinase producing strains of Staphylococcus aureus. The penicillinase-resistant penicillins are active in vitro against a variety of other bacteria.

Susceptibility Test Methods

When available, the clinical microbiology laboratory should provide the results of in vitro susceptibility test results for antimicrobial drugs used in local hospitals and practice areas to the physician as periodic reports that describe the susceptibility profile of nosocomial and community-acquired pathogens. These reports should aid the physician in selecting the most effective antimicrobial.

Dilution Techniques

Quantitative methods are used to determine antimicrobial minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs). These MICs provide estimates of the susceptibility of bacteria to antimicrobial compounds. The MICs should be determined using a standardized procedure based on dilution method1,2 (broth, agar or microdilution) or equivalent. It has been reported that determination of susceptibility or resistance of a microorganism to all penicillinase-resistant penicillins, including nafcillin, may be deduced by testing microorganisms against either oxacillin or cefoxitin2. For this reason, routine dilution testing of nafcillin is not advised and susceptibility to nafcillin should be determined by dilution using standardized inoculum and concentrations of oxacillin according to the criteria in Table 11,2

Diffusion Techniques

Quantitative methods that require measurement of zone diameters also provide reproducible estimates of the susceptibility of bacteria to antimicrobial compounds. One such standardized procedure2,3 requires the use of standardized inoculum concentrations. It has been reported that determination of susceptibility or resistance of a microorganism to all penicillinase-resistant penicillins, including nafcillin, may be deduced by testing microorganisms against either oxacillin or cefoxitin.2 Disk diffusion results using cefoxitin have been shown to be more reproducible than those obtained with oxacillin,4,5 therefore cefoxitin is the preferred reagent for testing nafcillin susceptibility by diffusion. Reports from the laboratory providing results of the standard single-disk susceptibility test with a 30 microgram cefoxitin disk should be interpreted according to the following criteria in Table 2.

A report of "Susceptible" indicates that the pathogen is likely to be inhibited by usually achievable concentrations of the antimicrobial compound in blood. A report of "Resistant" indicates that usually achievable concentrations of the antimicrobial compound in the blood are unlikely to be inhibitory and that other therapy should be selected.

Measurement of MIC or MBC and achieved antimicrobial compound concentrations may be appropriate to guide therapy in some infections. (See CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY section for further information on drug concentrations achieved in infected body sites and other pharmacokinetic properties of this antimicrobial drug product.)

Quality Control

Standardized susceptibility test procedures require the use of laboratory control microorganisms to monitor and ensure the accuracy and precision of the supplies and reagents used in the assay, and the techniques of the individuals performing the test. Appropriate quality control organisms and acceptable corresponding ranges of oxacillin MICs obtained by dilution testing or inhibition zones around 30 mcg cefoxitin disks are provided in Table 3.

General

Nafcillin should generally not be administered to patients with a history of sensitivity to any penicillin.

Penicillin should be used with caution in individuals with histories of significant allergies and/or asthma. Whenever allergic reactions occur, penicillin should be withdrawn unless, in the opinion of the physician, the condition being treated is life-threatening and amenable only to penicillin therapy. The use of antibiotics may result in overgrowth of nonsusceptible organisms. If new infections due to bacteria or fungi occur, the drug should be discontinued and appropriate measures taken.

The liver/biliary tract is the primary route of nafcillin clearance. Caution should be exercised when patients with concomitant hepatic insufficiency and renal dysfunction are treated with nafcillin. Serum levels should be measured and the dosage adjusted appropriately to avoid possible neurotoxic reactions associated with very high concentrations (see DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION).

Prescribing Nafcillin for Injection in the absence of a proven or strongly suspected bacterial infection or a prophylactic indication is unlikely to provide benefit to the patient and increases the risk of the development of drug-resistant bacteria.

Information for Patients

Patients should be counseled that antibacterial drugs including Nafcillin for Injection should only be used to treat bacterial infections. They do not treat viral infections (e.g., the common cold). When Nafcillin for Injection is prescribed to treat a bacterial infection, patients should be told that although it is common to feel better early in the course of therapy, the medication should be taken exactly as directed. Skipping doses or not completing the full course of therapy may (1) decrease the effectiveness of the immediate treatment and (2) increase the likelihood that bacteria will develop resistance and will not be treatable by Nafcillin for Injection or other antibacterial drugs in the future.

Diarrhea is a common problem caused by antibiotics which usually ends when the antibiotic is discontinued. Sometimes after starting treatment with antibiotics, patients can develop watery and bloody stools (with or without stomach cramps and fever) even as late as two or more months after having taken the last dose of the antibiotic. If this occurs, patients should contact their physician as soon as possible.

Laboratory Tests

Bacteriologic studies to determine the causative organisms and their susceptibility to nafcillin should be performed (See CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY-MICROBIOLOGY). In the treatment of suspected staphylococcal infections, therapy should be changed to another active agent if culture tests fail to demonstrate the presence of staphylococci.

Periodic assessment of organ system function including renal, hepatic, and hematopoietic should be made during prolonged therapy with nafcillin. White blood cell and differential cell counts should be obtained prior to initiation of therapy and periodically during therapy with nafcillin. Periodic urinalysis, blood urea nitrogen, and creatinine determinations should be performed during therapy with nafcillin. SGOT and SGPT values should be obtained periodically during therapy to monitor for possible liver function abnormalities.

Drug Interactions

Tetracycline, a bacteriostatic antibiotic, may antagonize the bactericidal effect of penicillin, and concurrent use of these drugs should be avoided.

Nafcillin in high dosage regimens, i.e., 2 grams every 4 hours, has been reported to decrease the effects of warfarin. When nafcillin and warfarin are used concomitantly, the prothrombin time should be closely monitored and the dose of warfarin adjusted as necessary. This effect may persist for up to 30 days after nafcillin has been discontinued.

Nafcillin when administered concomitantly with cyclosporine has been reported to result in subtherapeutic cyclosporine levels. The nafcillin-cyclosporine interaction was documented in a patient during two separate courses of therapy. When cyclosporine and nafcillin are used concomitantly in organ transplant patients, the cyclosporine levels should be monitored.

Drug/Laboratory Test Interactions 

Nafcillin in the urine can cause a false-positive urine reaction for protein when the sulfosalicyclic acid test is used, but not with the dipstick.

Carcinogenesis, Mutagenesis, Impairment of Fertility

No long term animal studies have been conducted with these drugs. Studies on reproduction (nafcillin) in rats and mice reveal no fetal or maternal abnormalities before conception and continuously through weaning (one generation).

Pregnancy

Teratogenic Effects

Pregnancy Category B

Reproduction studies have been performed in the mouse with oral doses up to 20 times the human dose and orally in the rat at doses up to 40 times the human dose and have revealed no evidence of impaired fertility or harm to the rodent fetus due to nafcillin. There are, however, no adequate or well- controlled studies in pregnant women. Because animal reproduction studies are not always predictive of human response, nafcillin should be used during pregnancy only if clearly needed.

Nursing Mothers

Penicillins are excreted in human milk. Caution should be exercised when penicillins are administered to a nursing woman.

Pediatric Use

The liver/biliary tract is the principal route of nafcillin elimination. Because of immature hepatic and renal function in pediatric patients, nafcillin excretion may be impaired, with abnormally high serum levels resulting. Serum levels should be monitored and the dosage adjusted appropriately. There are no approved pediatric patient dosage regimens for intravenous nafcillin. Safety and effectiveness in pediatric patients have not been established.

Geriatric Use

Clinical studies of Nafcillin for Injection did not include sufficient numbers of subjects aged 65 and over to determine whether they respond differently from younger subjects. Other reported clinical experience has not identified differences in responses between the elderly and younger patients. In general, dose selection for an elderly patient should be cautious, usually starting at the low end of the dosing range, reflecting the greater frequency of decreased hepatic, renal, or cardiac function, and of concomitant disease or other drug therapy.

Nafcillin for Injection contains 63.39 mg [2.76 mEq] of sodium per gram. At the usual recommended doses, patients would receive between 126.8 and 380.3 mg/day (5.52 and 16.56 mEq) of sodium. The geriatric population may respond with a blunted natriuresis to salt loading. This may be clinically important with regard to such diseases as congestive heart failure.

Body as a Whole

The reported incidence of allergic reactions to penicillin ranges from 0.7 to 10 percent (see WARNINGS). Sensitization is usually the result of treatment, but some individuals have had immediate reactions to penicillin when first treated. In such cases, it is thought that the patients may have had prior exposure to the drug via trace amounts present in milk or vaccines. Two types of allergic reactions to penicillins are noted clinically, immediate and delayed.

Immediate reactions usually occur within 20 minutes of administration and range in severity from urticaria and pruritus to angioneurotic edema, laryngospasm, bronchospasm, hypotension, vascular collapse, and death. Such immediate anaphylactic reactions are very rare (see WARNINGS) and usually occur after parenteral therapy but have occurred in patients receiving oral therapy. Another type of immediate reaction, an accelerated reaction, may occur between 20 minutes and 48 hours after administration and may include urticaria, pruritus, and fever.

Although laryngeal edema, laryngospasm, and hypotension occasionally occur, fatality is uncommon. Delayed allergic reactions to penicillin therapy usually occur after 48 hours and sometimes as late as 2 to 4 weeks after initiation of therapy. Manifestations of this type of reaction include serum sickness-like symptoms (i.e., fever, malaise, urticaria, myalgia, arthralgia, abdominal pain) and various skin rashes. Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomatitis, black or hairy tongue, and other symptoms of gastrointestinal irritation may occur, especially during oral penicillin therapy.

Local Reactions

Pain, swelling, inflammation, phlebitis, thrombophlebitis, and occasional skin sloughing at the injection site have occurred with intravenous administration of nafcillin. (See DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION) Severe tissue necrosis with sloughing secondary to subcutaneous extravasation of nafcillin has been reported.

Nervous System Reactions

Neurotoxic reactions similar to those observed with penicillin G could occur with large intravenous or intraventricular doses of nafcillin especially in patients with concomitant hepatic insufficiency and renal dysfunction. (See PRECAUTIONS).

Urogenital Reactions

Renal tubular damage and interstitial nephritis have been associated infrequently with the administration of nafcillin. Manifestations of this reaction may include rash, fever, eosinophilia, hematuria, proteinuria, and renal insufficiency.

Gastrointestinal Reactions

Pseudomembranous colitis has been reported with the use of nafcillin. The onset of pseudomembranous colitis symptoms may occur during or after antibiotic treatment (see WARNINGS).

Metabolic Reactions

Agranulocytosis, neutropenia, and bone marrow depression have been associated with the use of nafcillin.

To report SUSPECTED ADVERSE EVENTS, contact FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088 or www.fda.gov

OVERDOSAGE

Neurotoxic reactions similar to those observed with penicillin G may arise with intravenous doses of nafcillin especially in patients with concomitant hepatic insufficiency and renal dysfunction (see PRECAUTIONS).

In the case of overdosage, discontinue nafcillin, treat symptomatically and institute supportive measures as required. Hemodialysis does not increase the rate of clearance of nafcillin from the blood.

DIRECTIONS FOR USE

For Intramuscular Use

Reconstitute with Sterile Water for Injection, USP, 0.9% Sodium Chloride Injection, USP or Bacteriostatic Water for Injection, USP (with benzyl alcohol or parabens); add 3.4 mL to the 1 g vial for 4 mL resulting solution and 6.6 mL to the 2 g vial for 8 mL resulting solution. All reconstituted vials have a concentration of 250 mg per mL.

The clear solution should be administered by deep intragluteal injection immediately after reconstitution.

Reconstituted Stability

Reconstitute with the required amount of Sterile Water for Injection, USP, 0.9% Sodium Chloride Injection, USP or Bacteriostatic Water for Injection, USP (with benzyl alcohol or parabens). The resulting solutions are stable for 3 days at room temperature or 7 days under refrigeration and 90 days frozen.

For Direct Intravenous Use

The required amount of drug should be diluted in 15 to 30 mL of Sterile Water for Injection, USP or Sodium Chloride Injection, USP and injected over a 5- to 10- minute period. This may be accomplished through the tubing of an intravenous infusion if desirable.

For Administration by Intravenous Drip

Reconstitute as directed above (For Intravenous Use) prior to diluting with intravenous solution.

Only those solutions listed above should be used for the intravenous infusion of nafcillin sodium, USP. The concentration of the antibiotic should fall within the range specified. The drug concentration and the rate and volume of the infusion should be adjusted so that the total dose of nafcillin is administered before the drug loses its stability in the solution in use.

There is no clinical experience available on the use of this agent in neonates or infants for this route of administration.

This route of administration should be used for relatively short-term therapy (24 to 48 hours) because of the occasional occurrence of thrombophlebitis particularly in elderly patients.

If another agent is used in conjunction with nafcillin therapy, it should not be physically mixed with nafcillin but should be administered separately.