Two new carbapenem antibiotics, northienamycin and 8-epi-thienamycin have been isolated from culture broth of Streptomyces cattleya grown under conditions for thienamycin production. The isolation, structure elucidation and in vitro antibacterial spectra of the new carbapenems are reported. In addition, comparison of the in vitro potency of the corresponding formamidine derivatives to that of MK787 is presented.