Novel approaches are urgently needed to tackle the growing tide of antibiotic-resistant infections.

More than 700,000 people die each year from infections resistant to most or all antibiotics, and the number is increasing by the day. Such infections are projected to kill more people than cancer does by 2050, which would reduce global economic output by between 2% and 3.5% and severely cripple modern medical and surgical advances.

That makes anti-infective resistance one of the world’s most pressing medical problems. Although this growing issue is being generally recognized, the antibiotic pipeline remains thin.