Antimicrobial Resistance

Context: 

Experts at Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said that the Indian small and medium companies stepping into antibiotic development can play an important role in rejuvenating the global pipeline.

Role of Indian Companies in Antibiotic Development

• Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) refers to the ability of microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites, to adapt and become resistant to the drugs designed to kill or inhibit their growth.
  • This includes resistance to antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals, and antiparasitic drugs.
• The global antibiotic pipeline: It is weak across the pre-clinical and clinical development stages.
• The big pharmaceutical companies: They are no longer keen to fund if the resistance to pathogens is not a major problem in the Western world.
  • Analysis of the clinical pipeline of 15 big pharmaceutical companies showed that most big companies have quit the Research & Development of new antibiotics.
• Indian Companies: The small and medium-scale companies in India have taken up the responsibility.
  • They have a huge task and a lot depends on how they are supported.
• Need: Regulatory harmonisation at the global level so that the innovators can use the data that is already generated.
• Antibiotics have attributes of a global public good despite not fitting into the strictest definition.

News Source: Down To Earth

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