With the increase of multi-drug resistant infections happening all over the globe and the pronouncement by the World Health Organization (WHO) of antibiotic resistance as one of the top three greatest threats to human health, one organization has put out a policy statement concerning resolving this issue.
The Infectious Diseases Society of America (ISDA) is one organization looking at solving this public health dilemma. They are looking at the development of an antibiotic pipeline by bringing together industry, scientific and policy communities, among others, to develop 10 new antibiotics by the year 2020.
Also known as the “10X20 initiative”, the ISDA supports the development through discovery of new antibiotic classes and even new drugs from existing classes of antibiotics.
Currently there are very few new candidate antibiotics in the pipeline at a time when multi-drug resistant organisms are expanding. The main concern is the inability to treat common infections and as they put it, “it may change the practice of medicine as we know it”.
A greatest concern are the “ESKAPE” organisms; Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterobacter species. Some of these organisms currently have no antibiotic that is active against it.
According to the ISDA, the incentives to create a scientific workforce and the Research and Development infrastructure are necessary to accomplish the “10X20” goal.
Comments
What would be really beneficial would be if they would ask that the hospitals clean up their acts.
It would be immediately life saving, the hospitals would not be rewarded financially for the extra time and effort it takes to treat these bugs, and the pharmaceutical companies would not be rewarded for saving mankind from preventable infections.
I agree with Marcie along with reduction of hospital sterilization when need the medication and technology to combat these superbugs for the treatment of our youth. Medications that are not toxic with no other alternative but death.
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