Major drug makers commit $1 billion to novel antibiotics

After years of neglect, research into antibiotic resistance is getting a major boost. Several large drug makers are creating a $1 billion for-profit venture to acquire or invest in small antibiotic companies and their nascent products, STAT’s Ed Silverman exclusively reports.

The effort will be formally announced on July 9 by the leaders of Pfizer, Merck, Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bayer Pharmaceuticals, and MerckKGaA, among others. Government officials from Germany, Sweden, the U.K., and France — along with representatives from the Wellcome Trust and Pew Charitable Trusts — will also be present, according to two people familiar with the plans. It’ll also have support from the World Health Organization and the European Investment Bank.

“At present, it’s a fund organized mostly by large pharmaceutical companies that will be owners,” one source told STAT. “This keeps the [antibiotic] pipeline alive. In the oncology world, $1 billion is chump change, but $1 billion from for-profit companies to take a small number of assets and commercialize them is a lifesaver."