Small- to medium-sized drug makers developing new products for resistant infections are increasingly partnering with players in emerging markets such as China because of the absence of workable risk/reward systems in rich countries, according to a report by The Access To Medicine Foundation.

Therapyx and Intravacc are optimizing a candidate gonorrhea vaccine following promising results in primates and the granting of a three-year SBIR award by the US NIAID.

Regulatory incentives have been successful at attracting developers to antibiotic R&D, but significant medical advances have stubbornly remained rare. Now the pipeline has produced the first novel antibiotic to receive breakthrough status from US FDA and some Phase III trials are raising the efficacy bar to superiority.