Reported Reactions

Drugs › Penicillin-class antibacterial

Brand name · Tazobactam sodium and piperacillin sodium

Zosyn: adverse event reports filed with FDA

2,359 reports list it as a suspect or interacting product, 2004–2026. Class: Penicillin-class antibacterial.

2,359
reports as suspect product
0% of all reports · about 105 a year
51
reports, 12 months to June 2026
64 in the 12 months before
81%
marked serious by the reporter
81% across the class
13.4%
record death among outcomes, as reported
317 reports · not verified by FDA

2,359 adverse event reports received by FDA list the brand name Zosyn (tazobactam sodium and piperacillin sodium) as a suspect or interacting product, from January 2004 to June 2026. A further 4,285 reports list it only as a concomitant medication, and those are not counted in the figures on this page.

In the 12 months to June 2026, 51 reports listed it, down 20% from 64 in the 12 months before. FDA releases FAERS data quarterly, so the newest months are incomplete and grow in later releases. Over its reporting history that is about 105 reports a year and 0% of the 20,646,523 reports in the database, and 3.7% of the reports for the penicillin-class antibacterial class. How many people take it is not in the data, so a count is not a rate of occurrence.

The reactions recorded most often are drug hypersensitivity (9%), rash (7.8%) and pyrexia (7.5%). A report can list several reactions, so shares add to more than 100%; 486 different terms appear across these reports. Drug hypersensitivity is recorded in 9% of these reports, about the same share as in the median penicillin-class antibacterial drug (9%).

81% of the reports are marked serious by the reporter (81% across the class); 13.4% record death among the outcomes and 42.2% record hospitalisation, as reported. 32.9% of the reports came from pharmacists, and the largest patient age group is 45 to 64 (21.8%). FDA states that "a causal relationship cannot be established between product and reactions listed in a report" and that for any given report "there is no certainty that a suspected drug caused the event."

Reports by month, five years

0816Jul 2021: 3Aug 2021: 5Sep 2021: 2Oct 2021: 10Nov 2021: 9Dec 2021: 92022Jan 2022: 6Feb 2022: 0Mar 2022: 6Apr 2022: 2May 2022: 8Jun 2022: 6Jul 2022: 1Aug 2022: 3Sep 2022: 8Oct 2022: 15Nov 2022: 6Dec 2022: 12023Jan 2023: 2Feb 2023: 6Mar 2023: 9Apr 2023: 2May 2023: 8Jun 2023: 11Jul 2023: 11Aug 2023: 7Sep 2023: 1Oct 2023: 7Nov 2023: 5Dec 2023: 162024Jan 2024: 9Feb 2024: 6Mar 2024: 1Apr 2024: 7May 2024: 3Jun 2024: 3Jul 2024: 7Aug 2024: 8Sep 2024: 0Oct 2024: 6Nov 2024: 4Dec 2024: 82025Jan 2025: 9Feb 2025: 5Mar 2025: 4Apr 2025: 6May 2025: 5Jun 2025: 2Jul 2025: 3Aug 2025: 8Sep 2025: 2Oct 2025: 1Nov 2025: 6Dec 2025: 102026Jan 2026: 3Feb 2026: 3Mar 2026: 5Apr 2026: 3May 2026: 4Jun 2026: 3

Reports by the month FDA received them. FDA releases FAERS data quarterly, so the newest months are incomplete and grow in later releases.

By year received

0881762004: 10120042005: 1102006: 1112007: 6620072008: 812009: 1092010: 13420102011: 1172012: 1352013: 13220132014: 1372015: 1762016: 14920162017: 1462018: 982019: 10920192020: 832021: 742022: 6220222023: 852024: 622025: 6120252026: 21

2026 covers reports received through June 2026 only.

Reactions recorded in the reports

share of Zosyn reports recording the termmedian drug in penicillin-class antibacterial

  1. Drug hypersensitivityan allergic-type reaction to a medicine9%212
  2. Rashskin rash7.8%183
  3. Pyrexiafever7.5%176
  4. Acute kidney injurysudden loss of kidney function4.5%107
  5. Diarrhoealoose or frequent stools4.5%105
  6. Drug ineffectivethe medicine did not work as expected4.3%102
  7. Thrombocytopenialow platelets3.6%84
  8. Pneumonialung infection3.1%73
  9. Platelet count decreasedlow platelet count2.9%68
  10. Blood creatinine increasedraised creatinine, a kidney test2.6%62
  11. Renal failurekidney failure2.6%62
  12. Sepsisa severe body-wide response to infection2.6%61
  13. Renal impairmentreduced kidney function2.5%60
  14. Alanine aminotransferase increasedraised liver enzyme (ALT)2.3%55
  15. Dyspnoeashortness of breath2.3%55
  16. Neutropenialow neutrophils, a type of white blood cell2.3%54
  17. Pruritusitching2.3%54
  18. Interstitial lung diseasescarring or inflammation of lung tissue2.2%53
  19. Hypotensionlow blood pressure2.2%52
  20. Nauseafeeling sick2.2%52
  21. Anaphylactic reactiona severe, sudden allergic reaction2.2%51
  22. Aspartate aminotransferase increasedraised liver enzyme (AST)2.2%51
  23. White blood cell count decreasedlow white cell count2.1%50
  24. Off label useused for a purpose or in a way not on the label1.9%46
  25. Pancytopenialow counts of all blood cells1.9%44
  26. Toxic epidermal necrolysisa severe skin reaction with peeling1.7%40
  27. Condition aggravatedthe condition being treated got worse1.7%39

Top 30 of 486 MedDRA preferred terms recorded across these reports, with a plain-language gloss where one is available. One report can record several terms. The hollow bar is the median share across the 15 drugs in the penicillin-class antibacterial class; it describes the reports, not the patients. FDA states that adverse event reports "represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product", that "common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product", and that the data "by themselves are not an indicator of the safety profile of the drug or biologic."

Outcomes recorded

Death13.4%317
Life-threatening13.5%319
Hospitalisation (initial or prolonged)42.2%996
Disability2.1%49
Congenital anomaly0.1%3
Other serious44.8%1,058
Not serious19%449

Outcome flags as the reporter set them; a report can carry several, and "other serious" is FDA's own category for serious reports outside the named outcomes. Grey bar: all 64,409 reports in the class. FDA has not verified any outcome and states that the reports "cannot be used to estimate the incidence of these events."

Patients and reporters

Patient age

Under 20.8%20
2 to 111.6%38
12 to 172.1%50
18 to 4413.9%329
45 to 6421.8%515
65 to 7415.3%362
75 and over18.3%432
Age not given26%613

Patient sex

Female39.7%937
Male50.5%1,191
Not given9.8%231

Who reported

Physician27.1%640
Pharmacist32.9%775
Other health professional23%542
Lawyer0.4%10
Consumer or non-health professional12.1%285
Not given4.5%107

Age and sex as stated in the report; the reporter's qualification is the primary source recorded by FDA. 65.6% of reports give the United States as the country of the event or reporter.

Reason for use recorded

Indication as recorded (MedDRA)ReportsShare
Pneumonia25610.9%
Pneumonia aspiration733.1%
Infection662.8%
Cellulitis642.7%
Sepsis602.5%
Osteomyelitis512.2%

The indication field is filled in by the reporter and is often blank; shares are of all 2,359 reports.

Drugs most often listed in the same reports

Drug (any role in the report)ReportsShare of Zosyn reports
Vancomycin41017.4%
Lasix964.1%
Vancomycin hcl803.4%
Aspirin743.1%
Ciprofloxacin602.5%
Lisinopril602.5%
Meropenem602.5%
Pantoprazole sodium602.5%
Furosemide542.3%
Vancomycin hydrochloride532.2%

Other products listed in reports where Zosyn is a suspect product, whatever their own role. Co-listing means the two were recorded together; it says nothing about either product's part in the event. Only the 2,500 most-reported names are counted here.

In context

MeasureZosynPenicillin-class antibacterialAll reports
Reports as suspect product2,35964,40920,646,523
Share of that pool—3.7%0%
Reports, latest 12 months51—1,332,454
Marked serious81%81%57.4%
Death recorded among outcomes, per 1,000 reports1348291
Hospitalisation recorded, per 1,000 reports422406213
Consumer-filed share12.1%18.4%45.8%
Top term, share of reportsDrug hypersensitivity 9%median 9%0.9%

Shares are of reports, not of patients treated. The number of people taking a product is not in the data, so none of these figures is a rate, and differences between columns reflect who takes a product, who reports and how long it has been sold. FDA states that adverse event reports "represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product", that "common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product", and that the data "by themselves are not an indicator of the safety profile of the drug or biologic."

Other drugs in the penicillin-class antibacterial class

DrugName typeReportsLatest 12 monthsMarked serious
Amoxicillingeneric31,9842,31183.8%
Augmentinbrand9,43641272.2%
Piperacillin and tazobactamgeneric9,30758296.6%
Ampicillingeneric3,50520590%
Penicillin v potassiumgeneric1,2856336.3%
Penicillin ggeneric1,0457379%
Penicillin g sodiumgeneric1,0458025.6%
Bicillin L-Abrand89158111.6%
Unasynbrand7732290.9%
Ampicillin sodium, sulbactam sodiumgeneric5677792.9%
Ampicillin and sulbactamgeneric5622194.3%
Ampicillin sodiumgeneric558943.7%
Oxacillingeneric5572294.3%
Amoxilbrand535358.1%

Ordered by report count for navigation only. FDA states that adverse event reports "represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product", that "common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product", and that the data "by themselves are not an indicator of the safety profile of the drug or biologic." A brand and its generic are separate rows because reporters name them separately.

Questions about Zosyn reports

How many adverse event reports has FDA received for Zosyn?

2,359 reports list Zosyn as a suspect or interacting product in the openFDA FAERS release of 28 Sep 2026, covering reports received through June 2026. 51 of them arrived in the latest 12 months. Another 4,285 list it only as a concomitant medication.

What reactions are recorded in Zosyn reports?

drug hypersensitivity (9%), rash (7.8%), pyrexia (7.5%), acute kidney injury (4.5%) and diarrhoea (4.5%). These are MedDRA preferred terms coded from what the reporter described; a report can list several, and a term's presence is not a finding that Zosyn was responsible.

How serious are the reports?

81% are marked serious by the reporter. Among the outcomes recorded, 13.4% of reports include death and 42.2% include hospitalisation. FDA has not verified these outcomes and states that the reports "cannot be used to estimate the incidence" of the events.

Who files these reports?

pharmacist (32.9%), physician (27.1%) and other health professional (23%). Most reports reach FDA through the manufacturer, which must forward reports it receives.

Are reports for Zosyn rising?

51 reports in the 12 months to June 2026, down 20% from 64 in the 12 months before. FDA releases FAERS data quarterly, so the newest months are incomplete and grow in later releases. Counts also move with how many people take a product, its time on the market and publicity.

Do these reports show that Zosyn was responsible for these reactions?

No. FDA states that "a causal relationship cannot be established between product and reactions listed in a report" and that for any given report "there is no certainty that a suspected drug caused the event." The reaction may relate to the condition being treated, to other medicines, or to something else.

Is this a list of the side effects of Zosyn?

No. It is a count of what was reported to FDA. The adverse reactions observed in clinical studies are printed on the FDA-approved label, which a pharmacist or clinician can go through with you.

How do I report an adverse event?

Consumers and health professionals can report to FDA through MedWatch (Form FDA 3500 online, or 1-800-FDA-1088), or to the manufacturer, which must pass reports on. See the guide on how to report.

Where this comes from. Counts are built from the openFDA Drug Adverse Event (FAERS) bulk export released 28 Sep 2026, which holds reports FDA received through 30 Jun 2026. Drug names are as reported, resolved to the brand or generic name on the FDA label where openFDA's harmonisation matched them; classes are the pharmacologic class (EPC) from the label and the National Drug Code Directory of 17 Sep 2026. A report counts here when it lists Zosyn as a suspect or interacting product; reports listing it only as a concomitant medication (4,285) are excluded. No report narrative, lot number, patient detail or reporter identity is published. See the methodology and sources; FDA's record is authoritative, and corrections are handled within five working days.

Drug data (FAERS) through 30 Jun 2026; device data (MAUDE) through 31 Aug 2026. Not medical advice.