Antimicrobial Resistance: Forging A New Strategy Against an Old Threat

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is sadly not a new threat, and despite Alexander Fleming’s warnings about resistant bacteria rising up because of the frequent and misuse of antibiotics,¹ only fairly recently have individuals truly started to pay attention. Not only is there a growing threat of resistant bacteria, but the development of new antibiotics has been woefully insufficient. A recent report found that “of the drugs in development, only 12 have the potential to address the most critical Gram-negative pathogens on the World Health Organization’s antibiotic-resistant priority pathogens list: carbapenem-resistant Enterobactericaeae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Acinetobacter baumanii.