Kevin Judice – Life in the post-antibiotic era is going to suck – TEDxSMU 2014
The discovery of antibiotics in the early part of the last century resulted in the greatest single jump in average human lifespan in the recorded history of medicine. After more than 80 years of antibiotic over-use, regulatory hostility, and corporate indifference we have arrived, collectively, at the eve of the “post-antibiotic era”. Should this emerge in full we will re-engage a reality in which minor scrapes and sore throats are life-threatening events, with predictably shocking implications for everyday life. I will discuss the rise of antibiotic-resistant super-bugs, my personal involvement in efforts to combat them, and a few reasons for optimism in the face of what is otherwise a truly grim situation.
Dr. Judice is a co-founder of Cidara. Prior to launching Cidara, he served as an advisor to various investors and entrepreneurs, and served as the founding CEO of DiCE Molecules, Inc. in 2013. From 2004-2011, Dr. Judice was the founding CSO, and from 2007, the CEO at Achaogen, Inc. (Nasdaq: AKAO), a company dedicated to the discovery and development of antibiotics to treat serious infections caused by Gram-negative bacteria. Prior to Achaogen he oversaw the small molecule discovery group at Genentech, and before that he was the tenth employee at Theravance, Inc (Nasdaq: THRX) where he led the discovery of Vibativ (telavancin), a marketed anti-MRSA antibiotic. Dr. Judice received his PhD in organic chemistry at UCLA, working under Nobel laureate D.J. Cram, and was an NIH postdoctoral fellow in the laboratories of Peter Schultz at Berkeley. In 2008, he was named a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute and is a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.