Drug-Resistant Germs Lure Biotechs Including Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Trius Therapeutics to Antibiotics

Optimer Pharmaceuticals Inc. (OPTR)’s Dificid is on track to lead as many as five new antibiotics onto the market over the next three years as a surge in drug- resistant germs stokes the need for new medicines. The biotechnology industry is starting to fill a critical public-health niche being mostly shunned by larger drugmakers. Since 2006, only three of 111 drugs cleared in the U.S. were antibiotics. Optimer, a San Diego company with no marketed products, may win U.S. approval by May 30 to sell Dificid, a drug that fights stomach infections, the company has said.