Concerned about the need to fight antibiotic resistance and possible bioterrorist attacks, the U.S. government will give drug maker GlaxoSmithKline PLC up to $200 million over the next five years to help fund research into new antibiotics.

The emergence of so-called superbugs—new bacteria that are resistant to existing antibiotics—has spurred grave concern among public-health officials world-wide and heightened the need for new antibiotics. U.S. officials are also eager to have new antibiotics in hand to fight any lethal bugs that could be deployed in a bioterrorist attack. But many drug companies have stopped working in the antibiotic field because they consider the potential profits to be too low.

Under the deal, Glaxo, which still has an antibiotic research group, will receive an initial $40 million over 18 months from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or Barda, a unit of the Department of Health and Human Services that funds development of new medicines, vaccines and diagnostic tools for public-health emergencies.

Barda will contribute up to $200 million to Glaxo if the partnership continues over five years, Glaxo and Barda said. A joint Glaxo-Barda committee will decide which projects to invest in.

Barda has spent $5 billion to $6 billion over the past decade to fund mostly private-sector development of new medical tools, from bird-flu and swine-flu vaccines to antitoxins used to treat anthrax infections, Barda's director, Robin Robinson, said in an interview.