Pressure grows to create drugs for 'Superbugs'

Government officials, drug companies and medical experts, faced with outbreaks of antibiotic-resistant "superbugs," are pushing to speed up the approval of new antibiotics, a move that is raising safety concerns among some critics. The need for new antibiotics is so urgent, supporters of an overhaul say, that lengthy studies involving hundreds or thousands of patients should be waived in favor of directly testing such drugs in very sick patients. Influential lawmakers have said they are prepared to support legislation that allows for faster testing.