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A comment on Gunshot victims to be suspended between life and death. Parent comment

Re:Gunshot victims to be suspended between life and death by danieltillett on Wednesday March 26, 2014 @11:10PM (#7478344)
Unless we change the way drug companies are paid to develop antibiotics introducing any new regulation on the use of antibiotics won't be a good idea. Most have already canned their antibiotic r&d divisions because they can't make any money from new antibiotics since doctors refuse to use new antibiotics as they want to have a 'back-up' in case of resistance. This has created a negative feedback loop where drug companies stop developing new antibiotics since they aren't being used enough and doctors tighten the use of the few new antibiotics that make it through.
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Re:Gunshot victims to be suspended between life and death by throwaway5752 on Thursday March 27, 2014 @12:03AM (#7478529)
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1000142405270230346500...

That may have been true a decade ago. Sadly there's plenty of money already to be made in treating MRSA, c. difficile, mdr/xdr TB, and (terrifyingly) VRE and VRSA.

New regulations on antibiotics is essential. The thought that it's not a good idea is outside of mainstream and defies basic common sense.

http://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/DiseasesConnectedAR.html

edit: sadly, I disagree with you. Drug resistance can and is driving new r&d because it's killing people. New drugs will probably be more narrow spectrum and lucrative, more due to the difficulty of finding effective compounds rather than any specific intent.

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Re:Gunshot victims to be suspended between life and death by danieltillett on Thursday March 27, 2014 @01:06AM (#7478713)
I don't know if there is plenty of money to be made on the development of antibiotics, but I do know that the heads of all the big pharmaceutical companies don't think there is.

More regulation preventing the use of antibiotics won't encourage pharmaceutical companies to invest in this area, only making developing antibiotics more profitable will. This can be done in three way:

1. Encourage use of the new antibiotics so they sell more. 2. Increase the price. 3. Pay the companies directly for developing a new antibiotic (X-Prize-like approach).

My personal opinion is that option 3 is the best way, but right now there is no mechanism for doing this on anything other than a toy-scale. What won't encourage pharmaceutical companies to invest in the development of new antibiotics is to restrict their sales and increase their costs via regulation.

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Re:Gunshot victims to be suspended between life and death by tsotha on Thursday March 27, 2014 @03:10AM (#7479023)
It's not that there isn't any money in antibiotics. There is money in antibiotics, but it's all in selling the stuff to farmers by the ton.
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Re:Gunshot victims to be suspended between life and death by refurb on Thursday March 27, 2014 @12:53AM (#7478675)
Progress on the regulatory front has already been made, look up the GAIN Act. More is on the way!
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