MINI REVIEW article
Front. Antibiot.
Sec. Antibiotic Resistance
Volume 4 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/frabi.2025.1611588
An evaluation of antibiotic options for the treatment of biothreat pathogens
Provisionally accepted
- 1U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Frederick, Maryland, United States
- 2Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, Salisbury, United Kingdom
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The development of medical countermeasures against pathogens of biodefense concern remains critical to protecting military and public health. This review compares data detailing antibacterial activity and efficacy for a selection of antibiotics evaluated against potential bacterial biothreat pathogens. The human safety and tolerability of these formulations were also considered. This review includes finafloxacin, levofloxacin, delafloxacin, omadacycline, gepotidacin, tebipenem and sulopenem. The selection criteria of these antibiotics were 1) the availability of an oral formulation, 2) the regulatory status (licensed by a regulatory authority or in an advanced stage of development) and 3) the availability of publicly available information on the biodefence pathogens of concern. We hope to highlight approved or advanced clinical candidates that have significant and unique potential in the biodefense space which may be deployed to protect both the public and warfighter against these bacterial infections.
Keywords: antibiotics, Biodefence, Medical countermeasures, Antimicrobial susceptibility, Biocontainment
Received: 14 Apr 2025; Accepted: 12 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Meinig, Nelson, Cote, Emmett and Harding. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
J Matthew Meinig, U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Frederick, 21702-5011, Maryland, United States
Sarah V Harding, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, Salisbury, United Kingdom
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.