And the company is already using the system to work out which proteins interact with one another in cancer cells, also with a pharmaceutical end in mind.

ECONOMIST: Genomics

But even toward the end of his tenure at Lederle, big pharmaceutical companies were starting to pare back on antibiotics, opting for more lucrative cancer and heart drugs.

FORBES: A Better Antibiotic?

Several pharmaceutical companies are already working on drugs to this end.

BBC: Pine cone source for stroke drug

Indeed, the American Stock Exchange Pharmaceutical Index is down more than 30% from its peak at the end of 2000, and off 23% since the beginning of 2002.

FORBES: Magazine Article

They end up substituting one addictive substance for another, manufactured in volume inside the conservative idea mills like pills in a pharmaceutical factory.

FORBES: Uncle Sam's My Name, And Reform Is My Game