The global preclinical antibacterial pipeline

Resistance to antibiotics is a natural phenomenon that has been noted since the introduction of penicillin in the 1940s 1 . Whenever clinically relevant resistance has emerged, the problem has been tackled with modification of existing antibiotic classes with limited crossresistance to existing drugs or introduction of new classes 2 . The relative ease of the early antibiotic discovery programmes and the financial rewards that followed created a wasteful and uncritical use of antibiotics without adequate consideration of the societal consequences 3 . After this 'golden antibiotic era' , large pharmaceutical companies faced major scientific challenges searching for new antibiotics, especially with regard to…

• UD
  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• BA
  Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
• WT
  Wellcome Trust
• CA
  Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator
• DO
  Department of Health and Social Care
• BF
  Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
• NI
  National Institutes of Health
• BA
  Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority