New drugs for difficult bugs: management of multidrug-resistant gram-negative infections in solid organ transplant recipients

Purpose of review Multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria remain a significant threat to patient and allograft survival. Management of these infections in solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients remains challenging due to a limited antimicrobial pipeline and reliance on novel agents, which have not been systematically evaluated in the transplant population. Recent findings Novel antimicrobials, including the second-generation β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitors, cefiderocol, plazomicin and eravacycline, have been developed to combat infections due to multidrug-resistant Gram-negative infections, but each has microbiologic and therapeutic niches and warrant further study in SOT recipients. Summary This review summarizes therapeutic options for extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Enterobacterales, carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales and Pseudomonas aeruginosa with difficult-to-treat resistance in SOT recipients and emphasizes recently approved antimicrobial agents.