Antimicrobial resistance is a global public health threat and the theme of the World Health Day 2011. While the issue in most cases (such as extensively-drug-resistant tuberculosis, antiviral-resistant human immunodeficiency virus and drug-resistant malaria) is the access to effective antimicrobial agents and/or the high cost of these drugs, for a small but increasing number of nosocomial drug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria, there is no safe and effective antibiotic available - not now nor in the next 10-year horizon, given the timeline of drug development. Extensively-drug-resistant Gram-negative bacilli (XDR-GNB) include the majority of the six organisms on the Infectious Disease Society of America's (IDSA's) watch list of global "bad bugs" for which the development of new drugs was urgently required. These Gram-negative bacilli are Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Acinetobacter baumannii. The most frequently isolated of these organisms in the Singapore hospital setting is XDR-A. baumannii at this point in time.