Share -->PrintHomeGlobal Health PolicyKaiser Daily Global Health Policy ReportMay 19, 2015Boosting Antibiotic Research, Development Pipeline Critical To Ending Drug ResistanceMay 19, 2015

The Guardian: Antibiotic resistance is a growing menace — we must act before it’s too late
John McConnell, editor of The Lancet Infectious Diseases

“…Profligate use of antibiotics has provided the evolutionary driver for bacteria to develop resistance to the drugs. Introduction of every new class of antibiotics has been followed by bacteria becoming resistant. … Ways to boost the research and development pipeline for new antibiotics are the focus of the latest report, released last week, from the Review on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), chaired by economist Jim O’Neill. … The latest paper suggests ways to revitalize the research and development pipeline to produce about 15 new licensed antibiotics every 10 years. … AMR will contribute to 10 million annual deaths worldwide by 2050, more even than cancer. By boosting the antibiotic pipeline — one of several measures needed to combat this crisis — we can start to take our fate into our own hands…” (5/18).