Table 2.

Summary of the properties of the ideal antibiotic.

Drug-Specific	Pathogen-Specific
Available for oral administration	Broad-spectrum bactericidal activity (including Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, Mycoplasma/Ureaplasma ssp. and intracellular pathogens)
Acts as a prodrug	Antibacterial activity against persisters and pathogens in biofilms
Class I in the Biopharmaceutical Classification System	Activity at very low (nanomolar) concentrations
Accumulation in macrophages	Useful in hard-to-reach infected sites, e.g., abscesses, central nervous system (CNS), bone tissue
No teratogenic effects (safe in pregnancy, lactation and childhood)	Acts on multiple, unrelated, essential bacterial targets
No drug–drug interactions	Forms irreversible covalent bonds inside bacterial cells (ruling out drug efflux)
The drug is excreted from the body unchanged