Carrying Antimicrobial Candidates across the Valley of Death: Key Milestones: Deciding to continue or when to halt development of seemingly promising antibiotic candidates is an iterative exercise

What does a company need to do when a promising antimicrobial drug candidate turns up as part of a concerted research and development (R&D) program? First and foremost, said George Drusano of the University of Florida, Gainesville, “You need a hero to push the molecule forward.” However, if the molecule fails to meet critical milestones during that push forward, no matter how good it looked earlier, he added, “At some point, you need to put ‘old yeller’ down.”