Title:Discovery and Development of Antibacterial Agents: Fortuitous and
Designed
Volume: 22
Issue: 7
Author(s): Ravleen Kaur, Pooja Rani, Atanas G. Atanasov, Qushmua Alzahrani, Reena Gupta, Bhupinder Kapoor*, Monica Gulati*Pooja Chawla
Affiliation:
- School of Pharmaceutical
Sciences, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, India
- School of Pharmaceutical
Sciences, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, India
Keywords:
Antimicrobials, microbial resistance, macrolides, aminoglycosides, pleuromutilins, tetracyclines, fluoroquinolones, oxazolidinones, fatty acid biosynthesis inhibitors, cephalosporins.
Abstract: Today, antibacterial drug resistance has turned into a significant public health issue. Repeated
intake, suboptimal and/or unnecessary use of antibiotics, and, additionally, the transfer of resistance
genes are the critical elements that make microorganisms resistant to conventional antibiotics.
A substantial number of antibacterials that were successfully utilized earlier for prophylaxis and therapeutic
purposes have been rendered inadequate due to this phenomenon. Therefore, the exploration
of new molecules has become a continuous endeavour. Many such molecules are at various stages of
the investigation. A surprisingly high number of new molecules are currently in the stage of phase 3
clinical trials. A few new agents have been commercialized in the last decade. These include solithromycin,
plazomicin, lefamulin, omadacycline, eravacycline, delafloxacin, zabofloxacin, finafloxacin,
nemonoxacin, gepotidacin, zoliflodacin, cefiderocol, BAL30072, avycaz, zerbaxa, vabomere,
relebactam, tedizolid, cadazolid, sutezolid, triclosan, and afabiacin. This article aims to review the
investigational and recently approved antibacterials with a focus on their structure, mechanisms of
action/resistance, and spectrum of activity. Delving deep, their success or otherwise in various phases
of clinical trials is also discussed while attributing the same to various causal factors.
