'Golden age' of antibiotics 'set to end'

Far fewer pharmaceutical companies are working on new antibiotics than in the past.  Prof Jeremy Farrar, the new head of Britain's biggest medical research charity the Wellcome Trust said it was a "truly global issue".

Prof Farrar said that the golden age of antibiotics could come to an end unless action is taken.
Previous chief medical officers have also warned about the threat from pathogens - bacteria, viruses and parasites.

Multi-drug resistant (MDR) tuberculosis is rising steadily worldwide.  Doctors in London have reported a sharp rise in cases of MDR TB, which can take two years to treat successfully.  Another example is the rise in infections from enterobacteriaceae - bugs that live in the gut like E. coli and Klebsiella.  They are not the commonest cause of hospital acquired infection and some are becoming resistant to carbapenems, a powerful last resort group of antibiotics.

Prof Farrar said we could have used our antibiotics better and we should have invested more in research on infectious diseases.

He said there are just four pharmaceutical companies working on antibiotics now compared to 20 years ago.

And Prof Farrar called for industry to be given incentives to work on antibiotics and greater restrictions placed on access to these medicines

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