The pharmaceutical industry is currently abandoning its antibacterial discovery research efforts. This seems to be part of a cyclical pattern in this therapeutic area. The reasons behind these ongoing cycles of feast and famine are multiple, but most revolve around the perception of market opportunities from the continuing emergence of resistance, balanced against the difficulties in the discovery of novel antibacterial compounds, the costs of development and the general regulatory and financial environment in which companies find themselves. Relief for the industry will require both regulatory and legislative action at a time when this will be politically difficult to achieve. In the meantime, the problems of antimicrobial resistance are not going away.