Most drugs currently in the clinical pipeline are modifications of existing classes of antibiotics and are only short-term solutions, says WHO. Photo: Hemant Mishra/MintNew Delhi: A World Health Organization (WHO) report released on Wednesday highlighted a lack of new antibiotics under development to combat the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance. The report found few potential treatment options for antibiotic-resistant infections identified by WHO as posing the greatest threats to health, including drug-resistant tuberculosis, which kills around 250,000 people each year. Most drugs currently in the clinical pipeline are modifications of existing classes of antibiotics and are only short-term solutions, said the report titled ‘Antibacterial agents in clinical development – an analysis of the antibacterial clinical development pipeline, including tuberculosis.”. The report identifies 51 new antibiotics and biologicals in clinical development to treat priority antibiotic-resistant pathogens, as well as tuberculosis and the sometimes deadly diarrhoeal infection Clostridium difficile.

Source: Mint September 21, 2017 04:07 UTC