The growing crisis in antibiotic R&D: opportunities for G20 member action to support sustainable innovation

Antibiotics enable all of modern healthcare. Consistent use
of infection prevention procedures and vaccines reduce but
do not eliminate infections. The inevitable emergence of
resistance to antibiotics is now reaching a point where
some infections are virtually untreatable – a backward step
with significant negative consequences for patients’ lives
and for the burden on healthcare systems. There is an
inescapable need for innovation to deliver new antibiotics
as a central part of the wider response to antimicrobial
resistance (AMR).

Unfortunately, antibiotic research and development
(R&D) has become stagnant over the past 15 years due
to the challenging economics of antibiotic development.
Significant funding has emerged over the past five years
to support new work, re-energising the early stages of
antibiotic R&D.