A US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) taskforce working on advancing antibiotic drug development has outlined its initial areas of interest, and the FDA has proposed a list of pathogens that could trigger extended exclusivity periods for drug candidates.

The lowdown: Last September the FDA announced the formation of an Antibacterial Drug Development Task Force “to identify priority areas and to develop and implement possible solutions to the challenges of antibacterial drug development”. The Task Force has now put out a call for public input into study design issues (including the use of Bayesian and adaptive approaches as well as surrogate and clinical end points that can be measured earlier than irreversible morbidity and mortality) and for the development of guidance for specific bacterial indications (including complicated urinary tract infection, uncomplicated gonorrhoea and complicated intra-abdominal infection). Input is due by 30 July (see go.nature.com/RWRoj2 for details).

The FDA also moved forward with the Generating Antibiotic Incentives Now (GAIN) initiative, a provision in last year's Food and Drug Administration Safety Innovation Act that seeks to encourage the development of new antibacterial and antifungal drugs. GAIN provides 5 additional years of exclusivity to agents that are classified as qualified infectious disease products (QIDPs). Following consultation with infectious disease and antibiotic resistance experts, the FDA has now issued a proposed list of the “qualifying pathogens” that can be used in the designation of the QIDPs. The list consists of: Acinetobacter species, Aspergillus species, Burkholderia cepacia complex, Campylobacter species, Candida species, Clostridium difficile, Enterobacteriaceae, Enterococcus species, Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Neisseria meningitidis, Non-tuberculous mycobacterial species, Pseudomonas species, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus agalactiae, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Streptococcus pyogenes and Vibrio cholerae. Input is due by 12 August (see go.nature.com/9CZc71 for details).