ArticleClinical microbiology and infection : the official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases2023
Challenges and shortcomings of antibacterial discovery projects.
Article in Clinical microbiology and infection : the official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed.
- Designing the Next Generation of Antibiotics: Structure, SAR, and Strategy in Medicinal Chemistry (2000-2025).Medicinal research reviews · 2026Review
- Evaluation of serine protein kinase HPrK as an antibacterial target in gram-positive bacteria and mycoplasmas.Microbiology spectrum · 2026Article
- Anthraquinones derived from soil actinomycetes combat multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.Communications biology · 2026Article
- Electron Beam-Irradiated g-CGels (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Artificial intelligence in optimizing antimicrobial therapy for gastro-renal disorders.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2026Review
- Beyond antibiotics: artificial intelligence-enabled anti-infective ecosystems for next-generation precision therapeutics against antimicrobial resistance.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2026Article
- Drug Repurposing: An Emerging Strategy inJournal of microbiology and biotechnology · 2025Review
- Carbene formation as a mechanism for efficient intracellular uptake of cationic antimicrobial carbon acid polymers.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Current economic and regulatory challenges in developing antibiotics for Gram-negative bacteria.npj antimicrobials and resistance · 2025Review
- Antibiotics re-booted-time to kick back against drug resistance.npj antimicrobials and resistance · 2025Review
- A Comprehensive Overview of Antibacterial Agents for Combating Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria: The Current Landscape, Development, Future Opportunities, and Challenges.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- pH-triggered CS@ZnOFrontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2025Article
- Article
- The role of artificial intelligence and machine learning in predicting and combating antimicrobial resistance.Computational and structural biotechnology journal · 2025Review
- Breaking the resistance: integrative approaches with novel therapeutics against Klebsiella pneumoniae.Archives of microbiology · 2024Review
- Antimicrobial Resistance and Antimicrobial Therapy of Clinically Relevant Bacteria.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Evaluation of quantification methods to determine photodynamic action on mono- and dual-species bacterial biofilms.Photochemical & photobiological sciences : Official journal of the European Photochemistry Association and the European Society for Photobiology · 2024Article
- Structural Insights into the Lipopolysaccharide Transport (Lpt) System as a Novel Antibiotic Target.Journal of microbiology (Seoul, Korea) · 2024Review
- Multidrug efflux in Gram-negative bacteria: structural modifications in active compounds leading to efflux pump avoidance.npj antimicrobials and resistance · 2024Article
- Unrealized targets in the discovery of antibiotics for Gram-negative bacterial infections.Nature reviews. Drug discovery · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesAntibacterial drug discovery activities are essential for filling clinical pipelines with promising clinical candidates. Little information is available about the challenges and shortcomings of small companies and academic institutions in performing these important discovery tasks.
methodsWe performed a content analysis of 463 reviewer comments on 91 funding applications of antibacterial drug discovery projects submitted to two major global funders between 2016 and 2020 that had not proceeded further in the selection process. This quality assessment was complemented with the inputs (via e-mail) from a panel involving six antibiotic research and development (R&D) experts with long-standing expertise and experience in antibiotic drug discovery.
resultsCommon critical comments of reviewers are grouped into three main categories: scientific and technical shortcomings, unclear potential societal impact, and insufficient capability and expertise of the project team regarding the R&D process. Insufficient characterization of in vitro activity and/or testing of the hits/leads and insufficient antibacterial activity were the most common critical comments. Other areas of concern were insufficient or lack of differentiation from available drugs or projects with a long R&D history, and the research team's insufficient knowledge of a structured streamlined R&D process as reflected in severe gaps in the expertise of the R&D team. Little appreciation for the problem of the emergence of target-based resistance, especially in single-target approaches, and little awareness of toxicological issues, including approaches with historical liabilities were also commonly mentioned. The shortcomings identified through the analysis of funding applications are echoed by the results of the expert panel. DISCUSSION: Our analysis identified an urgent need of strengthening the support for antibacterial drug discovery teams to help more projects reach such a quality to be eligible for global funders and private investors.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.