World Health Organization reports critical shortage of antibiotics

A new World Health Organization (WHO) review of the current state of play in antibacterial clinical development shows a worrying lack of new antibiotics under development, in the face of growing antimicrobial resistance.

The WHO is calling for more research to be undertaken, calling most vaccines in development, which are variants in existing antibiotic classes, “short-term solutions”.

The report found very few potential treatment options for the most serious threats, including drug-resistant tuberculosis.

Of the 51 new antibiotics and biologicals in clinical development, only eight are classed as adding significant innovative value to available therapies.

“Research for tuberculosis is seriously underfunded, with only two new antibiotics for treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis having reached the market in over 70 years,” said WHO program director Mario Raviglione.

“If we are to end TB, more than $800 million per year is urgently needed to fund research for new anti-TB medicines”.