Metallo-Drugs as Promising Antibacterial Agents and Their Modes of Action,

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.