Big Pharma may have abandoned anti-bacterial research some years ago, but biotechs are filling the void. Their approaches range from improving existing drugs to discovering entirely new targets. Yet although a handful in Europe, including recently floated Basilea and private firm Arrow, has attracted recent investor interest, it hasn't been the anti-bacterials per se that have drawn them in. Basilea benefited from its spin-off status; Arrow from a promising anti-viral project and broad portfolio. Despite growing concerns over bacterial resistance, the field needs success stories to draw investors back for good. Even then, the nature of the diseases and therapies under development mean it's likely to remain the domain of smaller firms.

QSI Pharma, a Danish start up formed by the Technical University of Denmark and the biotech incubator of Leo Pharma AS, aims to inhibit the formation of deadly biofilms, highly structured and virulent communities of surface colonizing bacteria. QSI aims to discover molecules that interfere with bacterial quorum sensing, a cell-cell signaling process by which bacteria form biofilms when sufficient bacteria have amassed. The company's first target is Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which is responsible for a significant percentage of deaths from many hospital-acquired infections.

QSI Pharma, a Danish start up formed by the Technical University of Denmark and the biotech incubator of Leo Pharma AS, aims to inhibit the formation of deadly biofilms, highly structured and virulent communities of surface colonizing bacteria. QSI aims to discover molecules that interfere with bacterial quorum sensing, a cell-cell signaling process by which bacteria form biofilms when sufficient bacteria have amassed. The company's first target is Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which is responsible for a significant percentage of deaths from many hospital-acquired infections.