Antibiotics Special Issue: Challenges and Opportunities in Antibiotic Discovery and Development

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has received increasing global attention over the past decade. The lack of antibiotics in the clinical pipeline is a direct result of the discouraging financial incentives for their commercial development. This has led to a precarious situation where the widespread emergence of highly resistant strains could threaten the viability of the worldwide health system, as seen with the current COVID-19 crisis. While a number of nonantibiotic alternative antimicrobial approaches show interesting potential, it is difficult to see how they would displace the need for new antibiotics for the foreseeable future.

This special issue on antibiotics is a combination of viewpoints, perspectives, reviews, and original research manuscripts that provides a snapshot of the current state of affairs in antibiotic discovery and development. It is anchored by a set of 10 interrelated viewpoints and two perspectives from many of the world’s leading agencies and key opinion leaders with an interest in antimicrobial resistance.