Drug resistance is defined as the reduction in effectiveness of a drug to cure a disease or improve patient symptoms.  Commonly, the term is used in the context of diseases caused by pathogens, e.g., bacteria, fungi, parasites and viruses, where it is an enormous challenge.  This symposium will focus on drug resistance as it applies to antibiotics. In a clinical setting, drug resistance for antibiotics or antibacterial agents is defined as the point at which administration of the drug can no longer safely treat the disease state due to an induced change in the drug target or an inability of the drug to reach the target.  With an antibacterial agent, clinical resistance occurs when the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the drug, for a given microbial strain, exceeds that concentration of drug that can safely be administered.  Resistance to an antibiotic drug can arise by (1) mutation of the gene (or gene cluster); (2) by acquisition of extrachromosomal DNA, or a transposable plasmid, that carries the resistance gene or genes; (3) upregulation of the target; or (4) upregulation of an efflux mechanism.  Drug resistance has become a huge problem for clinicians; the challenge is passed to scientists working on new antibacterial agents to find new design approaches.This symposium will highlight different classes of antibacterial agents that are in various stages of development. Focus will be on medicinal chemistry, the development of structure-activity relationships, and approaches to drug design that lead to agents that are less prone to resistance development.

Antibacterial resistance: Recent progress

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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