Antibiotic Adjuvants: Rescuing Antibiotics from Resistance

Rooted in the mechanism of action of antibiotics and subject to bacterial evolution, antibiotic resistance is difficult and perhaps impossible to overcome. Nevertheless, strategies can be used to minimize the emergence and impact of resistance. Antibiotic adjuvants offer one such approach. These are compounds that have little or no antibiotic activity themselves but act to block resistance or otherwise enhance antibiotic action. Antibiotic adjuvants are therefore delivered in combination with antibiotics and can be divided into two groups: Class I agents that act on the pathogen, and Class II agents that act on the host. Adjuvants offer a means to both suppress the emergence of resistance and rescue the activity of existing drugs, offering an orthogonal strategy complimentary to new antibiotic discovery VIDEO ABSTRACT.