Current Approaches to Antimicrobial Formulations and their Delivery

With the escalating concerns about antimicrobial resistance and the intractable nature of microbial infections, there is a demand for the expansion and development of alternative stratagems for treating microbial diseases. At present, the advent of antimicrobial resistance amidst microbial pathogens, especially the ‘drugresistant’ ones, has led to poor clinical consequences, thus, shooting up healthcare outlays and mortality. Moreover, the formation of biofilms-like assemblies by microorganisms and their surface association mechanisms have led to secondary infections in immunocompromised individuals and further muddled the prophylaxis. Such microbial resistance is primarily attributed to the inapt and undue use of antimicrobials in humans/animals and the unregulated administration of these drug formulations. Therefore, there is an urgent need to propose and imbibe various modern, multifaceted antimicrobial formulation approaches to prevent the fatal consequences of antibiotic resistance and enhance the effectiveness of microbial growth control. Currently, several new-age antimicrobial formulation therapies are being explored and have shown promising results as efficacious preventatives, diagnostics, and drug carriers in comparison to conventional antibiotic therapy being used. In this chapter, we highlight the different categories of new-age antimicrobial formulation therapies currently in use, their molecular mechanism of microbial targeted delivery, their effectiveness over the traditional therapies, the challenges in their development and the future outcome of these contemporary formulations.