New antibiotics for multidrug-resistant bacterial strains: Latest research developments and future perspectives

The present work aims to examine the worrying problem of antibiotic resistance and the emergence of multidrug-resistant bacterial strains, which have now become really common in hospitals and risk hindering the global control of infectious diseases. After a careful examination of these phenomena and multiple mechanisms that make certain bacteria resistant to specific antibiotics that were originally effective in the treatment of infections caused by the same pathogens, possible strategies to stem antibiotic resistance are analyzed. This paper, therefore, focuses on the most promising new chemical compounds in the current pipeline active against multidrug-resistant organisms that are innovative compared to traditional antibiotics: Firstly, the main antibacterial agents in clinical development (Phase III) from 2017 to 2020 are listed (with special attention on the treatment of infections caused by the pathogens Neisseria gonorrhoeae, including multidrug-resistant isolates, and Clostridium difficile), and then the paper moves on to the new agents of pharmacological interest that have been approved during the same period. They include tetracycline derivatives (eravacycline), fourth generation fluoroquinolones (delafloxacin), new combinations between one β-lactam and one β-lactamase inhibitor (meropenem and vaborbactam), siderophore cephalosporins (cefiderocol), new aminoglycosides (plazomicin), and agents in development for treating drug-resistant TB (pretomanid). It concludes with the advantages that can result from the use of these compounds, also mentioning other approaches, still poorly developed, for combating antibiotic resistance: Nanoparticles delivery systems for antibiotics.