Table 1.

The various timeline-dependent strategies implemented for antimicrobial drug discovery.

Era	Year(s)	Approach
Golden era	1940–1962	Research-based on natural products Identification based on Whole-Cell screening
The era of Medicinal chemistry	1950–1980	Synthetic tweaking Identification based on Whole-Cell screening Compounds showing broad-spectrum activity
The era of antimicrobial Resistance	1960 onwards	Modern methods of drug discovery Target-based drug design Ligand-based drug design Compounds showing broad-spectrum activity
Era of narrow-spectrum	2025	Unconventional methods for drug design and discovery Combinatorial synthesis Diagnostic development