Antibiotic Discovery

Antibiotic drug discovery

Due to the threat posed by the increase of highly resistant pathogenic bacteria, there is an urgent need for new antibiotics; all the more so since in the last 20 years, the approval for new antibacterial agents had decreased. The field of natural product discovery has undergone a tremendous development over the past few years. This has been the consequence of several new and revolutionizing dr...

Rethinking the Antibiotic Discovery Paradigm

Experience is a valuable asset in scientific discovery. It enables the researcher to understandwhat has and has notworked in the past, and the way that problems can or should be addressed. However sometimes experience becomes enmired in dogma, and we must become careful as scientists not to think that what has been done previously is the only meaningful route forward. A strong object lesson is ...

Antibiotic Discovery: State of the State

D espite increasing resistance among clinically important gram-negative and gram-positive pathogens to many common antibacterial agents, many large pharmaceutical companies are showing decreased interest in this product area that is so critical to public health. This downturn in antibacterial discovery and development, in turn, is leaving us vulnerable to emerging resistance, particularly to re...

Antibiotic discovery heralds new world of drugs.

Structure-based approaches to antibiotic drug discovery.

The development of antimicrobials has advanced tremendously over the past century. However, as our production capacity increases, the threat of resistance is ever-present. To combat this resistance, two main avenues of drug discovery are being pursued: identifying new microbial proteins for which to direct drug discovery efforts, and designing innovative drugs that target existing proteins. The...