Disruptive Antibiotics and Non-Antibiotic Therapies to Combat Drug-Resistant Bacterial Infections

The field of antibacterial drug discovery and development is contracting dramatically whilst the antimicrobial resistance continues to increase. In addition to the lack of resource for R&D due to the antibiotic market failure, there are major technical challenges in the field. It is harder than ever before to discover new targets, and discover new chemical entities that are suitable for clinical development.

The path to overcoming these challenges will require a concerted effort between different disciplines and backgrounds in order to address the growing unmet medical need imparted by the spread of drug-resistant microbes. The 2022 Gordon Research Conference on New Antibacterial Discovery and Development will bring highly experienced leaders in antibacterial drug discovery and development together with young investigators and those new to the field of antibiotics research to help address these issues.

Discussion leaders and speakers are chosen from academia, industry, and government and philanthropic agencies to represent the breadth of talent and leadership necessary to drive innovation around target discovery and validation, hit identification and chemical optimization, and clinical trial design and execution. Previous meetings have defined the problem of antibiotic resistance, the challenges in antibiotic discovery and development faced over the past two decades, and the need for new pathways for clinical development. Those meetings have successfully created a community of idea generation and collaboration in what is otherwise a highly competitive scientific arena. This meeting will build on those foundations by exploring i) traditional as well as non-traditional strategies for achieving successful therapies for patients with infections, ii) learning from recent clinical programs with new and established targets which may be translatable to the next generation of antibacterial drugs, and iii) building an understanding of the economic and political landscape desperately required to support antimicrobial R&D.