This review will focus on strategies to develop new treatments that target the biofilm mode of growth and that can be used to treat biofilm infections. These approaches aim to reduce or inhibit biofilm formation, or to increase biofilm dispersion. Many antibiofilm compounds are not bactericidal but render the cells in a planktonic growth state, which are more susceptible to antibiotics and more easily cleared by the immune system. Novel compounds are being developed with antibiofilm activity that includes antimicrobial peptides, natural products, small molecules and polymers. Bacteriophages are being considered for use in treating biofilms, as well as the use of enzymes that degrade the extracellular matrix polymers to dissolve biofilms. There is great potential in these new approaches for use in treating chronic biofilm infections.
Keywords: antibiofilm strategies; antimicrobial peptides; bacterial biofilms; dispersal; enzyme treatments; infections; matrix polymers; small molecule inhibitors.