After years of failing to turn a profit from antibiotics, some pharmaceutical companies are making their way back into the space after various government research incentives motivate companies to create antibacterial-resistant antibiotics, according to Bloomberg.
Here are five points:
1. One such company includes Massachusetts-based Spero Therapeutics, which is creating various novel treatments to fight bacterial infections. Spero Therapeutics CEO said, "Some large pharmaceutical companies are re-entering the space, and new companies focused on antibacterial development are emerging as industry darlings."
2. Six months ago, Pfizer, Roche and more than 80 other companies made a commitment to combat antimicrobial resistance at the World Economic Forum.
3. Bloomberg surveyed 18 companies within the last two months, and found the companies project to increase antibiotic research spending by 36 percent, on average, this year.
4. Over the past 15 years, various companies have closed their antibiotic research labs as they found the antibiotic business was not profitable for them. However, the U.S. government's Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority told AstraZeneca it would invest up to $170 million to help the company get new antibiotics on the market.
5. The Authority also granted Glaxo $200 million. Glaxo plans to put a new product, gepotidacin, into the next clinical testing phases to see if the drug can fight drug resistant E. coli, gonorrhea and biothreat pathogens.
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