The Pew Charitable Trusts has tracked the pipeline of antibiotics in clinical development since 2014 and has aggregated updates into an interactive tool that illustrates trends in the pipeline—as drugs are either approved, discontinued from development, or remain stagnant. This longitudinal assessment underscores the long-standing concerns of scientists, doctors, public health officials, and other stakeholders regarding the dangerously low number of antibiotics in development to address current and future patient needs, particularly for treating the most urgent bacterial threats, such as Gram-negative pathogens, and those prioritized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization.

Click the play button to see the evolution of the antibiotic pipeline since 2014, or click on an individual year to see the status of the pipeline at a particular point in time. (To view without animation, uncheck the “animate change” box.) To see additional information about each drug, hover over or tap any of the rectangles.

Antibiotics in Development Since 2014

Antibiotic

Expected to treat CDC urgent pathogen

Novel antibiotics

Expected to treat Gram-negative ESKAPE pathogens

PHASE 1P1
PHASE 2P2
PHASE 3P3
APPLICATIONNDA
APPROVED✓

Total approved antibiotics since 2014: 4

Total discontinued antibiotics since 2014: 6

Notes: Candidates included in this data visualization are consistent with Pew’s methodology for tracking antibiotics in clinical development. The analysis captures the status of antibiotics in the pipeline beginning in 2014, including those approved by the FDA and other regulatory agencies that year. More information about methodology and the full underlying data can be found in Pew’s latest pipeline analysis. This interactive tool is updated annually.