The Year 2025 Marks the 80th Anniversary of the Award of the Nobel Prize for the Discovery and Early Studies of Penicillin: Now More Antibiotic Research is Needed

The discovery and development of penicillin that earned the Nobel Prize in 1945 changed the world. Tremendous collaborative interdisciplinary and interinstitutional effort focused on isolation, purification, determination of the structure and mode of activity. The identification of the strained β-lactam ring as the key biologically reactive component provided opportunities for development of multiple generations of antibiotics. The concerns about resistance due to overuse and misuse that were expressed very early on have been realized and now require new investment in antibiotic research.