Antibiotics currently in the clinical pipeline are still "inefficient" against the increasing prevalence of antimicrobial resistance, according to the World Health Organization's 2023 report on antibacterial agents in clinical and preclinical development, published June 14.
"Overall, antibacterial agents in the clinical pipeline combined with those approved in the last six years are still insufficient to tackle the ever-growing threat of the emergence and spread of drug-resistant infections," the report states.
The WHO's in-depth analysis of the state of the antibiotic drug pipeline found that currently there are 97 antibacterial agents in development — 57 traditional, 40 non-traditional. Since the last analysis in 2017, 12 new antibiotics have been added, but three have been discontinued.
Of the 57 traditional antibiotics in development, 32 of them target the WHO's updated list of bacterial priority pathogens with a focus on targeting drug-resistant tuberculosis, C. difficile, and H. pylori.
Six of the 32 specifically target high and medium-priority pathogens.
While the pace of development of antibiotic agents is not keeping pace with rising antimicrobial resistance, progress is still being made.
Since 2017, 16 new antibacterial agents have been approved worldwide and a majority of new drug approvals in this class — 77% — are for agents in antibiotic classes that already exist and are not new classes of antibiotics. While these drugs are becoming approved and are among others in a category scientists and providers have a solid understanding of, if bacteria eventually finds a way to resist them then the development of an entirely new type of antibiotic could be essential in time.