Earlier this month, a group of IDSA leaders met with Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, MD, and other top FDA officials to discuss IDSA’s priorities. These included antibacterial drug development, novel H1N1 influenza and how the Society can help in the response, and the use of antimicrobials in animals.

IDSA leaders discussed ways FDA can further encourage the development of new antibiotics to give clinicians and their patients the drugs they need to fight the growing and deadly threat of antibiotic resistance. Opportunities to help boost the antibiotics pipeline include commissioning research to evaluate what incentives might spur drug makers to increase antibacterial research and development, and publishing clinical trial guidelines for antibiotics to treat hospital-acquired bacterial pneumonia and other serious infections. IDSA representatives also discussed how the Society can help clarify the agency’s industry guidance for the development of antiviral treatments for H1N1 and seasonal influenza.

Richard Whitley, MD, FIDSA, president-elect of IDSA, and John G. Bartlett, MD, FIDSA, past president of IDSA and chair of IDSA’s Antimicrobial Availability Task Force, were joined by Society staff in the meeting, which also included other IDSA leaders -- David N. Gilbert, MD, FIDSA, member of IDSA’s Antimicrobial Availability Task Force, and Andrew T. Pavia, MD, FIDSA, chair of IDSA’s Pandemic Influenza Task Force -- who participated by phone. IDSA sent a letter to FDA in June outlining the Society’s priorities and requesting the meeting.

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