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In 2019, the WHO declared Antimicrobial Resistance as one of ten threats to global health. In this review we describe the factors contributing to the antibiotic crisis and the efforts to develop innovative antibiotics with new targets. We discuss the recent update (2024) of the “WHO Bacterial Priority Pathogens” and the current antibacterial clinical drug pipeline including the national “Phage4Cure” project.

The Charité Research Organisation GmbH has experience in the conduct of early phase projects for new antimicrobial drugs. We want to share our expertise in this review article. The current antibacterial clinical drug pipeline continues to be dominated by combinations of β-lactam antibiotics with ß-lactamase inhibitors and bacteriophages targeting WHO priority pathogens. Among the innovative agents there are two novel boronate-based serine ß-lactamase inhibitors (taniborbactam and xeruborbactam) which target also metallo-ß-lactamases which continue to grow in prevalence.

The current pipeline of new antimicrobial drugs including traditional and non-traditional antibacterial agents such as microbiome-modulating agents and bacteriophages will be discussed.

Author and Contact:
Claudia Werner, MD, PhD
Charité Research Organisation GmbH
Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin
claudia.werner@charite-research.org