Experts Warn Drug Pipeline for Superbugs Has Shrunk by 35% in Five Years

Experts Warn Drug Pipeline for Superbugs Has Shrunk by 35% in Five Years
1 min readHealthScienceBusiness

In Brief

Experts report a significant decline in new drug projects targeting superbugs over the past five years.

Key Facts

  • The pipeline of drugs to fight superbugs has shrunk by 35% in the last five years.
  • The number of projects from large pharmaceutical companies fell from 92 to 60.
  • GSK is leading research in this area, while AstraZeneca is not involved, according to the report.

What Happened

A report cited by experts states that the number of new drug projects targeting superbugs has decreased by 35% over five years, with GSK leading research efforts and AstraZeneca not participating.

Why It Matters

A shrinking pipeline of drugs may limit options to combat drug-resistant infections, which experts predict could result in a doubling of annual deaths linked to these infections by 2050. Based on a single source report

What's Next

Observers may monitor pharmaceutical company involvement and any policy or industry responses aimed at increasing investment in new antibiotics.

Sources