Over-Use of Antibiotics Entering Troubling Territory?
The report is more worrying on the subject of antibiotics. These wonder-pills have saved more lives than almost any other invention. But there are signs that they are losing some of their potency, thanks in part to rampant overuse. The number of infections that are resistant to treatment by antibiotics is on the rise, a problem that may cost America’s health system between $21 billion and $34 billion a year. And the pace of development of new antibiotics is slowing, as drug firms shift their attention to chronic illnesses such as diabetes and hypertension or to new technologies such as nanotechnology.
The report argues that it should be much harder to get hold of antibiotics. Consider China, where many hospitals make much of their income from selling the drugs they prescribe. One study found that 98% of children with the common cold at a Beijing hospital were given antibiotics—which are useless for treating viral infections. In India strong antibiotics are sold without a prescription. Almost everywhere antibiotics are overused in farming fish and livestock. The WEF also argues that companies and non-profits need to collaborate more to develop more drugs. GlaxoSmithKline and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have both acted as pioneers here through their “open lab” approach to research. Glaxo has opened its Tres Cantos research facilities to academic and government scientists in order to collaborate on discovering new antibiotics. The Gates Foundation has organised an accelerator programme that brings together research teams from academia and private companies such as Abbott Laboratories, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Eli Lilly and Glaxo.
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