News
Bacterial Resistance Concerns
A crisis has developed and we are doing nothing about it
Company after company (apart from those merging) are closing down their antibacterial units, both in the United States and elsewhere. The pipeline is practically empty (and I believe that I would know). Organisms are becoming more and more resistant (witness our recent isolation of a vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus with vanA) and there is neither the interest nor the resources to do anything about it.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has greatly complicated matters by raising the bar so high that it is either practically impossible or prohibitively expensive to bring new antibacterials to market. Companies are concentrating on long-term drugs such as anti-HIV agents, antihypertensives, statins, etc., purely for financial reasons. A drug like clinafloxacin, which was admittedly toxic, could have saved lives in a restricted niche such as an intensive care unit, but it was dropped because of financial and FDA concerns. This is but one example.
Because of the above, funds are rapidly drying up to do any research (such as I am doing) on bacterial resistance. Additionally, no one is being trained for a field that has no future. I feel strongly that we owe it to future generations not to let this happen.
I fear that all of the above will lead us to a time of severe bacterial resistance and nothing to use against it. Perhaps we need to wait for a lawyer or politician to die of a multiresistant bacterial infection before action is taken. There is an active AIDS lobby but none for children with complicated otitis media.
Bad things happen when good people do and say nothing.