Facts

• Modern medicine depends on antibiotics.

  Without effective antimicrobial treatments, we will return to the medical dark ages.

  • Cancer patients with compromised immune systems, people undergoing routine surgeries or organ transplants, and even children with scrapes from the playground all rely on effective antibiotics to ward off infections.
  • One study showed that one in five cancer patients who died in the intensive care unit lost their lives to an infection acquired at the hospital. In over 80% of those cases, a multi-drug resistant pathogen was identified.
  • If we don't develop new antimicrobial treatments to keep up with evolving microbial resistance, everything from blisters and cuts to C-sections and joint replacements could turn deadly.

• The antibiotics ecosystem is on the verge of collapse.

  Current economic incentives don't work for new antibiotics.

  • Bacteria and fungi are living organisms that continuously adapt and evolve. Every time we use an antimicrobial medicine, pathogens have an opportunity to develop into superbugs. Even though these treatments save lives, we must use them sparingly to preserve their effectiveness.
  • As a result, the market for new antimicrobials is small. Investors are often hesitant to fund research, because even if a new antimicrobial reaches FDA approval, it is not likely to generate enough sales to recoup its development costs, much less earn a positive return.
  • Most large biopharmaceutical companies have left the antibiotics field entirely, while other smaller biotech startups working on new antimicrobials have struggled to stay afloat.

• Addressing the threat of superbugs is critical to public health.

  Drug-resistant infections exacerbate public health emergencies.

  • Any event involving mass hospitalizations, such as pandemics, hurricanes, or natural disasters, carries a significant risk of secondary and co-infections, particularly for patients with weakened immune systems.
  • One example is the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the CDC, U.S. hospitals experienced a 15% increase in AMR infections and deaths in 2020 - with a spike in some specific superbug infections of over 60%.
  • While COVID-19 was a viral public health emergency, the next pandemic could even be bacterial or fungal in nature. And we need to be prepared.