As larger pharmaceutical companies have reduced focus on discovery and early development of antibacterials, smaller biotech companies have taken on a larger role in these earliest stages of antibacterial development, later licensing or selling the compound to the pharmaceutical company to complete development. Although this model has helped to partially resuscitate a diminishing antibacterial pipeline, is it the most effective model for the development of new drugs? Participants outline the advantages and pitfalls associated with this model as well as other proposed models for drug development and will also discuss what new drugs are currently in this pipeline.
* Gary Noel, Johnson and Johnson, North Caldwell, NJ, United States
* Ursula Theuretzbacher, Center for Anti-Infective Agents, Vienna, Austria
by ccondayan