Question: How long does it take to create an antibiotic that is safe and efffective?

Nathan Green answered on 15 Mar 2013:

Many of the easy to get antibiotics have been used and bugs have become resistant to them. So scientists now need to think up new drugs that fight the diseases in a different way. Then they need to be tested in the laboratory to see if they work there and then in clinical trials on humans to see if it works and they dont have nasty side-effects. Then after all that, it can be released in to the wider world. You can imagine this can take a good while!