Should pharmacies give up antibiotic development to government non-profits?
Many have filed for bankruptcy, urging the government for radical changes.
Antibiotic research and development do not make pharmaceutical companies any money. In fact, it is harder for them to break even. Achaogen, a small biotech firm, declared bankruptcy after bringing out a much-needed antibiotic.
The reason is that the market constantly needs new antibiotics, because patients build resistance, and in order to address different class of bacteria.
Big pharmaceuticals have already left the race, passing the segment to smaller firms who cannot cope with the financial pressure without having multiple profit streams.
If profitability is an insoluble problem for antibiotics companies, we can solve that problem by making profit irrelevant.Wired
There needs to be a radical change in the system of antibiotic development. If profits are stopping private pharmaceuticals from developing them, perhaps making profits irrelevant is the solution. This can only be done by governments, who can inject money into government-set labs or non-profit institutions.
A solution proposed by Adam P. Roberts, microbiologist and antibiotic discoverer at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, is: universities and institutions focusing on R&D, holding it as join intellectual property on behalf of the world, and giving it to generic drug firms to be manufactured cheaply.Wired
Leading thinkers in the sector are proposing similar ideas. Having R&D nationalised will have its own set of issues, pushing the agenda in political races. However, with international regulations in healthcare, a proper non-profit pharmaceutical for the betterment of citizens can be achieved.
Read more about this radical plan to change antibiotics development here.
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