New drug development: the case of antibiotics

This article in Clinical Infectious Diseases explains the problem and also why drug companies are not doing enough to develop new classes of antibotics.Antimicrobial resistance is a profound global health threat of the 21st century. The United Kingdom ’s AMR Review estimates that by 2050 as many as 10 million persons a year will die of drug-resistant infections if solutions are not found [1]. The World Bank projects that, without containment of antimicrobial resistance, annual global gross domestic product will decrease by 1%, that is,>$1 trillion annually from 2030, and the hardest hit will be persons in low-income countries [2].Although resistance levels are increasing globally, the world currently lacks the drug candidates to ensure a diverse and robust pipeline of antibacterial drugs to withstand technical attrition and increasing drug resistance [3,4]. As of December 2016, there were only 38 candidates in the antibacterial clinical development pipeline [5]. Most of these products will not reach the market, and only a handful of candidates are expected to have activity against urgent threat pathogens. The World Health Organization has identified a list of 12 pathogens that represent the global public health need for new antibiotics [6]. Without new antibiotics targeting these pathogens, mortality rates for untreatable infections are expected to increase. This would represent a step backward in modern medicine, not only for the treatment of infections but also for the...
Source: Stayin' Alive - Category: American Health Source Type: blogs