Op-ed: Antibiotic resistance is growing — don’t delay new antibiotics

The Hill published an op-ed by AMR Action Fund CEO Henry Skinner that examined Iterum Therapeutics’ decision to wind down operations approximately 18 months after obtaining FDA approval for a new antibiotic.

This outcome is alarming but not surprising. The world urgently needs new antibiotics, yet the market routinely punishes companies that take on the long, risky and expensive work of developing them. Iterum is just the latest name on a growing list of antibiotic developers that have collapsed over the past decade, often shortly after achieving regulatory success.

Antibiotics are among the most important classes of medicines ever developed. They cure infections and make modern medicine possible, enabling everything from chemotherapy and organ transplants to joint replacements and cesarean sections. But the drugs we rely on are steadily losing their effectiveness as bacteria evolve resistance to them.

To slow this process, clinicians and hospitals are encouraged to use new antibiotics sparingly. This approach — known as antibiotic stewardship — is essential to protecting public health and preserving the effectiveness of these drugs for patients who truly need them.

But stewardship comes with severe economic consequences. By design, it artificially suppresses sales. That makes it extraordinarily difficult for companies to recoup development costs, generate sustainable returns, and attract private investment.

Read the full op-ed here.