A is for Antibiotics

With just over a month left until the end of year, we decided to bring together the biggest and best pharmaceutical news from over the last 12 months to make sure you’re up to date when it comes to our ever growing industry. An opportunity to look at how far we’ve come in our fight against the world’s deadliest and most widespread diseases, and how very far we still have to go in finding new drug targets and treatments against many more. From Antibiotics to Zika, drug discovery to regulatory approval, new treatments, better medicines, healthcare cuts and novel approaches – all to find solutions to the many unmet calls for aid seen around the globe, let European Pharmaceutical Review put you in the know.

So, here we go. A is for Antibiotics

The biggest threat to modern medicine is just around the corner: antibiotic resistance. Without the power of antibiotics, we would be plunged into darkness without the ability to stave off deadly diseases. 

How antibiotic resistance occurs

Antimicrobial (antibiotic) resistance occurs when a microbe evolves to become more or fully resistant to antimicrobials which previously could treat it. This arises through one of three ways; natural resistance in certain types of bacteria; genetic mutation; or by one species acquiring resistance from another. Resistance can appear spontaneously due to random mutation but mainly it is due to overuse of antibiotics in humans and animals. Resistant microbes are increasingly difficult to treat, requiring alternative medications or higher doses—which may be more costly or more toxic.

Read European Pharmaceutical Review‘s exclusive interview with Destiny Pharma’s CEO, Dr Love, to discuss why the pharmaceutical industry needs to radically change its approach to antibiotics in order to combat the threat of bacterial resistance

Read how antimicrobial resistance could kill one person every 3 seconds by 2050 and what Emma Rose from Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics thinks about the latest issues threatening our health

Find out everything you need to know by reading this in depth Q and A guide to antibiotic resistance with our editor, Caroline Richards

See the advice NICE had to offer doctors, nurses and pharmacists to help promote and monitor the sensible use of antimicrobials

Read how MicuRx’S Phase III MRSA antibiotic trial supported their Chinese new drug application filing to treat complicated skin and skin structure infections

Read the results of Destiny’s Staphylococcus aureus trial which showed how their fast acting antibiotic is too quick for disease resistance

Check back tomorrow for the next letter in our pharma alphabet!

What do you think about antibiotic resistance? Is the industry doing enough to combat the threat of a world without effective antibiotics? We’d love to hear from you so drop us a comment below and tell us your thoughts.

CALL FOR WRITERS

Is this your specialist subject? Are you a scientist, student or do you work in the pharmaceutical industry? If you’d like contribute an article to the website and/or become one of our expert writers, please do get in touch with Niamh Marriott