If nothing changes regarding antimicrobial resistance, “10 million people worldwide could die of drug-resistant infections annually by 2050–surpassing cancer as a leading cause of death,” according to an opinion piece in MEDPAGE TODAY by two members of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO): David Thomas, MS, BIO Vice President of Industry Research, and Emily Wheeler, BIO’s Director of Infectious Disease.
With only 64 antibacterial therapeutics currently in clinical development, the antibacterial pipeline is grievously small and it’s continuing to shrink compared to previous decades, at a time when superbugs continue to grow stronger, claiming 1.27 million lives in 2019 alone, their column notes.
But there is a solution, they say, pointing out that “government intervention and incentives can help change the game for private companies to develop these medications.”
