Martina I know several academic groups that are trying new approaches to find biological compounds that could be potential leads, but big pharma has almost completely abandoned antibiotic research. Unfortunately it's just not profitable for them, not that many patients are coming down with drug resistant infections at the moment. Decades from now those infections will be widespread, but private companies don't care about the longterm/big picture, they want to have something to impress their share holders next quarter. Research departments that aren't profitable get the ax. We need the government to step up investment in this arena, but there is very little political will to raise taxes to fund it. People don't realize that each drug costs over a billion dollars to develop.

Martina I know several academic groups that are trying new approaches to find biological compounds that could be potential leads, but big pharma has almost completely abandoned antibiotic research. Unfortunately it's just not profitable for them, not that many patients are coming down with drug resistant infections at the moment. Decades from now those infections will be widespread, but private companies don't care about the longterm/big picture, they want to have something to impress their share holders next quarter. Research departments that aren't profitable get the ax. We need the government to step up investment in this arena, but there is very little political will to raise taxes to fund it. People don't realize that each drug costs over a billion dollars to develop.

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