Glenn Tillotson has rightly identified that the existing late-phase pharmaceutical industry pipeline is poorly equipped to meet current and future needs for the treatment of infections due to resistant bacterial pathogens Citation[1]. Furthermore, few novel-mechanism antibacterial agents have been launched in recent decades to help address these unmet needs. We appreciate that it can be challenging for external parties to discern how active companies are in individual therapeutic areas, but the statement made in the article that GlaxoSmithKline has left the field of antibacterial R&D is incorrect. GlaxoSmithKline remains fully committed to making new anti-infective agents to address all of the key unmet needs for bacterial infections including the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureuspandemic, the global spread of drug resistance among common respiratory pathogens and epidemic increases in multidrug resistant/panresistant Gram-negative bacilli.
GlaxoSmithKline has a significant team of chemists, biologists and clinicians working to discover and actively progress multiple novel-mechanism antibacterials to clinical trials (see GSK’s publicly available pipeline chart Citation[101] and the clinical trials website Citation[102]). Furthermore, over the past year we have announced significant long-term alliances with three companies (Anacor, Mpex and Biofocus), all focused on expanding our discovery footprint in antibacterials through transformational technologies. We have also announced substantial partnerships with the Wellcome Trust and the Defense Treat Reduction Agency (US Department of Defense) that have enabled us to accelerate one of our internal programs. These partnerships have been communicated via public press releases and two of the initiatives have been specifically highlighted by the Infectious Diseases Society of America as encouraging signs for antibacterial R&D Citation[2].
From our own considerable experience, we are very cognizant of the challenges facing the development of novel antibacterial agents Citation[3] and have created an integrated strategy of established and innovative approaches focused to address these challenges. Despite the complexities of this therapeutic area, GSK is very much committed to creating the novel classes of antibacterials that are so urgently needed.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
All authors are employees of GlaxoSmithKline. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.
References
- Tillotson GS. Where does novel antibiotics R&D stand among other pharmaceutical products: an industrial perspective? Expert Rev. Anti Infect. Ther.6(5), 551–552 (2008).
- Bad bugs no drugs. An update from the IDSA. Clin. Infect. Dis.48, 1–12 (2009).
- Payne DJ, Gwynn NM, Holmes DJ, Pompliano DL. Drugs for bad bugs: confronting the challenges of antibacterial discovery. Nat. Rev. Drug Discov.6, 29–40 (2007).
Website
- GlaxoSmithKline’s pipeline chart www.gsk.com/investors/pp_pipeline_standard.htm
- ClinicalTrials.gov www.clinicaltrials.gov