3 ms·

> I’m a bit confused why antibiotic resistant bacteria is so scary. It's scary because if you can't kill the bacteria, the bacteria kills you. -- > My layman

> I’m a bit confused why antibiotic resistant bacteria is so scary. It's scary because if you can't kill the bacteria, the bacteria kills you. -- > My layman understanding is that antibiotics gum up the mechanism to produce the cell wall. This layman's idea is incorrect. Not all antibiotics work on cell walls. Not all bacteria have defined cell walls. Look up Mycoplasma. -- > Is the concern that studies to confirm lack of effects will take too long? Not that it’s a difficult engineering challenge? Couldn’t we be doing this research already, of finding other ways to disrupt the mechanism? Most of the antibiotics we have were either found by accident, or computed derivatives of something that was found by accident. We've exhausted the low hanging fruit. More complex antibiotics often have bad side effects (ciprofloxacin) or are effective enough that we use them in the most guarded fashion to keep them in the chamber when needed (carbapenem derivations). -- There's a metric crap ton of money going into the research of new antibiotics, it's just not straight forward.

shagie 4y ago
> There's a metric crap ton of money going into the research of new antibiotics It's getting more attention, but its been faltering for a long time. https://news.bloomberglaw.com/health-law-and-business/antibiotic-research-lacks-funds-in-fight-against-resistant-germs https://news.bloomberglaw.com/health-law-and-business/antibi... > Venture capitalists are investing far less funds to develop new antibiotics than they are for oncology drugs, according to a new report that highlights the need for more financial incentives to fight off the growing threat of drug-resistant bacteria. > The report, published Monday by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, found that investors are increasingly shying away from antibiotic research due in part to large companies exiting the space. That’s left small companies, that typically rely on investment capital, struggling to carry out new clinical trials. > Newer antibiotics are more important than ever as the Covid-19 pandemic has forced people into hospitals for longer periods of time, increasing the chances for the spread of antibiotic-resistant germs, the biotech trade group said. > But in the past 10 years, venture capital funding for U.S. antibiotic development amounted to $1.6 billion, compared to $26.5 billion for oncology, according to Monday’s report. The group noted that there are currently 64 new antibacterial therapeutics in the clinical trial pipeline, 80% of which originated from small companies. The report mentioned is The State of Innovation in Antibacterial Therapeutics - https://www.bio.org/sites/default/files/2022-04/BIO-Antibacterial-Report-2022.pdf https://www.bio.org/sites/default/files/2022-04/BIO-Antibact...

shagie 4y ago

> There's a metric crap ton of money going into the research of new antibiotics It's getting more attention, but its been faltering for a long time. https://news.bloomberglaw.com/health-law-and-business/antibiotic-research-lacks-funds-in-fight-against-resistant-germs https://news.bloomberglaw.com/health-law-and-business/antibi... > Venture capitalists are investing far less funds to develop new antibiotics than they are for oncology drugs, according to a new report that highlights the need for more financial incentives to fight off the growing threat of drug-resistant bacteria. > The report, published Monday by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, found that investors are increasingly shying away from antibiotic research due in part to large companies exiting the space. That’s left small companies, that typically rely on investment capital, struggling to carry out new clinical trials. > Newer antibiotics are more important than ever as the Covid-19 pandemic has forced people into hospitals for longer periods of time, increasing the chances for the spread of antibiotic-resistant germs, the biotech trade group said. > But in the past 10 years, venture capital funding for U.S. antibiotic development amounted to $1.6 billion, compared to $26.5 billion for oncology, according to Monday’s report. The group noted that there are currently 64 new antibacterial therapeutics in the clinical trial pipeline, 80% of which originated from small companies. The report mentioned is The State of Innovation in Antibacterial Therapeutics - https://www.bio.org/sites/default/files/2022-04/BIO-Antibacterial-Report-2022.pdf https://www.bio.org/sites/default/files/2022-04/BIO-Antibact...