Novel antimicrobial agents against multi-drug-resistant gram-negative bacteria: an overview.

No novel antimicrobial agents against multi-drug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria have been available to daily clinical practice during the last 5 years. On the other hand, resistance rates and mechanisms of those pathogens are increasing worldwide. Pan-resistant (against which none of the currently available antibiotics is effective) strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa have been described. Encouraging is the fact that several novel compounds (some of them with mechanisms of action different to those of the antibiotics commercially available) are through the development stages. We summarize the main such compounds that show potential for offering solution to the treatment of Gram-negative multi-resistant bacteria along with the discussion of some patents associated with the topic.