Antibiotic adjuvants – A strategy to unlock bacterial resistance to antibiotics

摘要

Resistance to available antibiotics in pathogenic bacteria is currently a global challenge since the numberof strains that are resistant to multiple types of antibiotics has increased dramatically each year and hasspread worldwide. To unlock this problem, the use of an ‘antibiotic adjuvant’ in combination with anantibiotic is now being exploited. This approach enables us to prolong the lifespan of these life-savingdrugs. This digests review provides an overview of the main types of antibiotic adjuvants, the basis oftheir operation and the remaining issues to be tackled in this field. Particular emphasis is placed on thosecompounds that are already in clinical development, namely b-lactamase inhibitors