The world is facing new infections and diseases every day and antibiotics developers are not keeping up with it. A new World Health Organization report revealed worrisome information, not enough antibiotics are being developed and infections may become unstoppable because of this.
Companies do not develop enough antibiotics
Medicine companies are not fast enough and they do not come up with enough drugs.
“It is difficult to speculate why companies develop specific new medicines. But in general, many new treatments do not necessarily constitute advances over existing treatments.” Peter Beyer, the author of the report stated. “Always seek medical advice before taking antibiotics and then always follow the advice of the health-care professional,” he added.
There may be another reason for this situation. According to Bill Hanage, an associate professor of epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, few new drugs get on the market. “The great majority will not make it into the hands of doctors or your treatment. As the report states, for drugs to be used in humans they have to pass 3 hurdles, the phase 1, 2 and 3 trials. Drugs entering that pipeline have just a 14% chance of getting all the way through to be used in humans.” He said.
Infections may become too resistant in the future
If the industry does not become faster, many diseases might become almost “invincible”. And there are other side effects too: “More resistant infections don’t just mean you or someone you care about is more likely to die from one, they also mean healthcare will get even more expensive. Many of the procedures we take for granted in medicine, from cancer treatments to surgeries, depend on our ability to handle infections that happen in the course of treatment.” Hanage declared.
