Greater Flexibility, Creativity and Adaptability-Humans or Microbes?

• Nearly two million Americans contract serious hospital-acquired infections each year, resulting in approximately 90,000 deaths. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that Staphylococcus, Enterococcus, Pseudomonas, and Pneumococcus bacteria are responsible for approximately 44% of all hospital-acquired infections and 63% of all hospital-acquired bacteremias.

• At the 40th annual meeting of the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) numerous companies reported progress on the development new antibiotics.

• The critical need for new antibiotics-particularly new classes of antibiotics-is characterized by the projected peak sales of over $1 billion for Pharmacia's Zyvox™.

• The genomes of more than two dozen bacterial strains have been mapped, including Pseudomonas aerugenosa. New antibacterial targets are emerging that may overcome the rate of resistance or eliminate it entirely.

• Additional information is available in D&MD Report #969, Antibacterials and Antifungals: Technologies, Trends and Market Opportunities.