Recent developments in antimicrobial therapy for gastrointestinal infections

This focused, narrative review summarizes human clinical trial data for direct-acting antimicrobials in development for the treatment of gastrointestinal infections that were published in the past 18 months (1 January 2019 to 30 June 2020).Antimicrobial agents for Clostridioides difficile infection (n = 6), cryptosporidiosis (n = 1), cytomegalovirus infection (n = 3) and Helicobacter pylori infection (n = 1) have completed and/or are undergoing human clinical trials.Although this review highlights significant advances in four disease states, many common gastrointestinal pathogens have no antimicrobials in human clinical trials, emphasizing the need for continued prioritization in this field of study.