Abstract:
Antibiotic resistance has been a growing worldwide public health issue. The
World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that the search for new
antibiotics is slow, while antibiotic resistance is growing. WHO has also
declared that antibiotic resistance is one of the top 10 global public health
threats facing humanity in the 21st century. Therefore, this review discusses
the potential of metal-based drugs as antibacterial agents from the period of
the early 2000s to date. The review reveals that a lot of preliminary work has
been done to assess these as potential drugs. However, their mode of action
is faintly described. Furthermore, a few examples of metal-based drugs
assessed for their modes of action are described. These compounds are ideal
as they have been observed to work with one or more modes of action and
they are also able to induce or increase the activity of free organic compounds
once bound to the metal. Nonetheless, more studies are needed to
understand the modes of action of other transition metal compounds.
