Drug developers face enormous regulatory and commercial hurdles in the antibiotics market, but industry is looking to challenge the current business model with new premium-priced drugs that deliver compelling pharmaco-economic benefits over generics.

Infectious disease researchers have been warning for decades of the growing numbers of drug-resistant bacteria, and a certain subset of investors and companies sees this epidemiological nightmare as an alluring business opportunity. We profile three emerging anti-infective drug developers in this issue: Arsanis Biosciences, ContraFect, and Fedora Pharmaceuticals.