login
Become a member
Quick Registration
Full Registration Benefits -
Free Homepages for Doctors
Free Homepages for Hospitals
Free Homepages for Medical Conference
Free Homepages for NGO's
Personal Health Record Creation
Access to all Medical Slides
Access to all Jobs & Products Sale
Drug Companies Urged Not to Give Up Research on Antibiotics
Although new antibiotics have been developed to treat the so-called hospital superbug MRSA (methycillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), the pipeline for drugs to treat some other infections was practically dry.
That is doctors are running out of antibiotics to treat infections that could kill vulnerable people.
"It is vital that the pharmaceutical industry remains interested in this area," said Dr David Livermore, laboratory director of UKs Health Protection Agency's centre for infections.
"Several major companies have pulled out of antibiotic development. They have not been seen as a particularly profitable area. If you develop a new heart drug, the patient is on it for a matter of years and resistance doesn't develop.
"With antibiotics on the other hand, the patient is on it for one or two years and resistance may develop," Livermore points out.
The cost of developing a new drug is usually said to be somewhere between $500m (Ģ285m) and $1bn, depending on whether the many drugs that fail are costed in and whether the marketing budget is included.
Most troubling now is the rise of what are known as gram negative bacteria (MRSA is gram positive). These include E coli, which can cause serious food poisoning, Acinetobacter, which can kill those whose immune system is compromised and Pseudomonas, which particularly attacks cystic fibrosis patients.
|
|
|
More News on: Drug Toxicity, Signature Drug Toxicity
 Comment & Contribute
|
Medwonders Health Network
- Health News Index
|
|
- News Quick Links
| News Categories: |
| » | Report: A Lot of Americans Have No Access to Health Care |
| » | Greece Faces Humanitarian Crisis as Health Care Access Declines in EU, Doctors Group Warns |
| » | HCCI Report Says Rising Prices for Care Responsible for Increased Healthcare Costs for Privately Insured Americans |
| » | Treatment in ED is Based on Children's Insurance Status |
| » | US Spends Most on Healthcare Without Providing Superior Care |
| More Insurance News | |
|
