Biotechs Battle Bacteria

Only a few novel antibiotics have reached the market in the last 20 years or more, including Pfizer Inc. 's linezolid (Zyvox), launched in 2000, and Aventis SA's (now Sanofi Aventis SA) telithromycine (Ketek), which launched in Europe in 2001 and in the US in April 2004. Part of the reason for this paucity is that Big Pharma's new, post-genome-revolution tools of genomics and proteomics appeared ill suited to antibacterials. Many relevant targets are highly specific to bacteria, rather esoteric, and not amenable to traditional HTS enzymatic assays. Getting inhibitors to work not just in vitro but inside the bug proved a particular hurdle.

These challenges, plus a more stringent stand from the regulators, have prompted many Big Pharmacy to exit the field over...