Cefiderocol: A New Cephalosporin Stratagem Against Multidrug-Resistant Gram-Negative Bacteria

Cefiderocol is a novel injectable siderophore cephalosporin that hijacks the bacterial iron transport machinery to facilitate cell entry and achieve high periplasmic concentrations. It has broad in vitro activity against gram-negative bacteria, including multidrug-resistant (MDR) organisms such as carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales, carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Acinetobacter baumannii. It was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of complicated urinary tract infections and nosocomial pneumonia based on clinical trials that demonstrated noninferiority to comparators. In this review, we summarize the available in vitro and clinical data, including recent evidence from 2 phase 3 clinical trials (APEKS-NP and CREDIBLE-CR), and discuss the place of cefiderocol in the clinician's armamentarium against MDR gram-negative infections.