AMR Action Fund CEO Henry Skinner co-authored an opinion piece in Stat explaining that unless investment trends and market dynamics change, antibiotic researchers will never be able to leverage the full benefits of AI.
The article, co-authored by Cesar de la Fuente-Nunez of the University of Pennsylvania, notes that of all the areas of drug development that artificial intelligence has the potential to transform, antibiotics may be the most consequential. But the broken market for antimicrobials is undercutting AI’s transformative potential.
Part of the problem is that the greatest efficiencies AI offers today are far upstream in the drug-development process, including identifying hits and leads, assessing toxicity, optimizing medicinal chemistry, and narrowing which candidates deserve scarce laboratory resources. These advances may reduce early-stage risk and costs.
But they do nothing to solve the most stubborn challenge facing antibiotics: The market does not appropriately value the end product.
Antibiotics cure patients rather than managing chronic conditions. They are typically prescribed for days, not years. They are also the foundation of modern medicine, enabling surgeries and chemotherapy, organ transplants, and protecting new mothers from postpartum infections. Because these drugs are so precious, new antibiotics are deliberately held in reserve to slow the emergence of resistance, a practice known as stewardship that benefits future patients but crushes commercial prospects. Even a truly novel, lifesaving antibiotic will be used sparingly, priced modestly, and ultimately displaced by generics.
Read the full article here.