title: Prospects for new antibiotics: a molecule-centered perspective.
abstract: There is a continuous need for iterative cycles of antibiotic discovery and development to deal with the selection of resistant pathogens that emerge as therapeutic application of an antibiotic becomes widespread. A short golden age of antibiotic discovery from nature followed by a subsequent golden half century of medicinal chemistry optimization of existing molecular scaffolds emphasizes the need for new antibiotic molecular frameworks. We bring a molecule-centered perspective to the questions of where will new scaffolds come from, when will chemogenetic approaches yield useful new antibiotics and what existing bacterial targets merit contemporary re-examination.
authors.affiliation: Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology Department, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Walsh
authors.affiliation: Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology Department, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Timothy A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Wencewicz
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology; D015195:Drug Design; D055808:Drug Discovery / Q000379:methods*; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents