The World Health Organization warned that unless governments motivate drugmakers to develop new antibiotics, drug-resistant infections could kill 10 million people annually by 2050, The New York Times reported.
Drugmakers rarely take the initiative to develop new antibiotics because they're not profitable and physicians aren't motivated to prescribe new antibiotics over older, cheaper ones. Many antibiotic developers have gone out of business in recent years because the antibiotic market is so unstable.
The WHO issued a warning Jan. 17 that the government needs to incentivize drugmakers to develop new antibiotics to combat increasing threats of multidrug-resistant superbugs. Without new antibiotics, the agency predicts drug-resistant infections could kill 10 million people annually by 2050 and there would be an economic slowdown similar to the global financial crisis in 2008.
Today, about 700,000 people die every year because old antibiotics no longer work against drug-resistant bacteria, according to the Times.
Most of the antibiotics being developed are variations on existing ones, and only a handful target the most dangerous, drug-resistant infections, the WHO said.
"We urgently need research and development," Sarah Paulin, technical officer of antimicrobial resistance and innovation at the WHO, told the Times. "We still have a window of opportunity, but we need to ensure there is investment now so we don’t run out of options for future generations."
The WHO identified 252 new antibiotic products being developed that target 12 of the pathogens the agency considers the gravest threats to humanity, such as E. coli and salmonella.
However, only eight new antibiotics have been approved since 2017, and most are derivatives of existing antibiotics and don't target the most serious pathogens, the Times reported.
Congress has been considering a bill that would support the market for antibiotics but it has not advanced despite bipartisan support, according to the Times.
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