Re-arming the antibiotic arsenal

Modern medicine is facing a significant threat. Our antibiotics are becoming less and less effective, and we aren’t developing new ones nearly fast enough to keep up. Hardly a few months go by without someone foretelling the return to a time when seemingly minor infections become life-threatening incidents.

So what is the problem? Why is antibiotic development progressing so slowly? Put simply, the research is very difficult, and the economics are not entirely favourable. ‘When we create a new antibiotic that works well against resistant pathogens, the world will say thank you, then put it in reserve until they absolutely have to use it,’ says David Payne, head of antibacterial research at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). ‘That’s absolutely appropriate and as it should be, but the return on investment in that scenario is challenging for a drug company.’ Antibiotics are as expensive to develop as other drugs, but if their use is restricted to small populations for short treatments, then recouping those costs is trickier.

GSK is one of the few large pharmaceutical companies still pursuing antibiotics research, but Payne admits that his unit makes up a relatively small part of the company. Instead of a large in-house research programme, GSK has turned to public–private partnerships to share some of the financial and scientific burdens. As a partner in Europe’s Innovative Medicines Initiative, the company is working with academic and industrial collaborators to address some of the challenges in developing new drugs against resistant bacteria.

GSK has also joined forces with the US government’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, which is providing up to $200 million (£128 million) in funding over five years. The structure of this partnership is as significant as the money, says Payne. Unlike many other agreements, it is not focused on a single candidate compound, but allows resources to be moved between projects. This means that if one molecule fails – as often happens in drug development – the research can continue without renegotiating the contract.

This article provides a link to coverage by Chemistry World