Driving Antibacterial Discovery and Development to Address the Clinical Demands of the Next Decade

The 2018 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 in order to enable the next generation of safe and effective drugs. Discussion leaders and speakers are chosen from academia, industry, and government agencies to emphasize 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 1) novel strategies for achieving potent and safe antibacterial drugs against the most difficult-to-treat organisms, 2) new approaches for monitoring infections with the goal of broadening the opportunities for clinical development, and 3) learning from recent clinical programs with new and established targets which may be translatable to the next generation of antibacterial drugs.