IDSA requests 10 new antibiotics by 2020

The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) is calling for the development of 10 new antibiotics by 2020.

“If we can initiate a global commitment to achieve this significant 10 x ’20 goal, we’ll take a giant step toward safeguarding the health and well-being of patients worldwide,” said IDSA President Richard Whitley, MD, FIDSA. “We offer the unique expertise of IDSA’s members to assist the research and policy communities and urge the US and [European Union (EU)] to establish a specialized ‘antibacterial pipeline group,’ which would be responsible for identifying strategies to motivate antibiotic drug development.”

There are just 15 antibacterial drugs in the pipeline with the potential to offer benefits over existing drugs, according to a new EU report. Of these drugs, only 5 are in later-stage clinical trials. These findings support those in the 2009 IDSA report, “Bad Bugs, No Drugs, No ESKAPE.”

The IDSA has asked the Obama administration and the EU to support the 10 x ’20 Initiative’s goal, noting that the World Health Organization identified antimicrobial resistance as one of the three greatest threats to human health. IDSA requested that the US and EU work toward this goal at the highest levels-possibly in connection with the President’s Advisory Council on Science and Technology and the European Commission.

IDSA’s 2004 report-“Bad Bugs, No Drugs, As Antibiotic Discovery Stagnates, A Public Health Crisis Brews”-described the antibiotic resistance crisis and the circumstances that cause drug makers to leave the antibiotic market. In response to the difficulties confronting drug makers with regard to antibiotic development, IDSA worked with Congress to draft the Strategies to Address Antimicrobial Resistance (STARR) Act.

Ever since this report, there has been a greater awareness of the lack of pharmaceutical development in the antibiotic arena, according to Formulary Editorial Advisory Board Member Michele B. Kaufman, PharmD, RPh, clinical pharmacist, New York Downtown Hospital, and president, PRN Communications Inc., New York.

“This is a problem in the United States and abroad, many organisms have developed resistance to the current armamentarium of agents,” Dr Kaufman said. “Not only has this occurred in the hospital setting, but there are now reports of an increase in community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. This is quite scary.”

“The 10 x ’20 Initiative must succeed in creating a stable research infrastructure for antibiotic development, otherwise physicians around the world will be left without the tools they need to effectively treat patients,” said Dr Whitley.