Re:World on cusp of 'post-antibiotic era'
by noir_lord on Thursday November 19, 2015 @11:21AM
(#10595613)
I think if you have a disease that is curable with an antibiotic that gets really out of control you will find that government funding will become much more of a factor.
Been the government that threw a few billion bucks and saved thousands of (electorate) lives is a good vote winner.
The cost of developing antibiotics is large (in the billions) but US defence spending is 600bn dollars, UK defence spending is 60-odd bn dollars.
Governments should already be funding this stuff (imo) since the defence of the realm is theoretically their first goal.
Re:World on cusp of 'post-antibiotic era'
by refurb on Thursday November 19, 2015 @11:41AM
(#10595738)
One problem is bacteria develop resistance to the new drugs very quickly. Usually within 2-3 years.
It actually varies significantly across antibiotics. I can't find the source right now, but there was a neat diagram that showed the introduction of each antibiotic and when resistance was first identified.
Some resistance was found in less than a year after the antibiotic was introduced and some were found 20 years later.
It's difficult to recoup your investment costs for a drug that has an effective use window that small.