The "greatest and most urgent global risk" that is antibiotic resistant bacteria is such a prominent issue it led to a full convening of the UN assembly last week. It is estimated roughly 700,000 people die every year due to drug resistant infections and this number could multiply hugely should antibiotics lose the fight against 'superbugs'. Experts have voiced concerns that without effective antibiotics, doctors will no longer be able to perform crucial surgical procedures. The World Bank has suggested humanity "may face a reversal of the massive public-health gains of the past century, and the economic growth, development and poverty reduction they enabled".
So the announcement from Aim-traded Redx Pharma (REDX) this week about its discovery of a series of compounds with the potential to create the "first completely new class of broad-spectrum antibiotics in 30 years" came as welcome news.
Recent pre-clinical studies proved these compounds to be highly effective against drug resistant strains of bacteria. This could have important implications for drug resistant infections such as E. coli and Pseudomonas, which are responsible for many critical illnesses.
The World Health Organisation director-general Margaret Chan wants to reduce patients' reliance on existing antibiotics and said last week "common diseases are increasingly becoming untreatable because of resistance". She has also called for more innovation in antibiotic development, mirroring the views set out by former Commercial Secretary to the Treasury, Lord Jim O'Neill, who suggested pharma companies should be incentivised to spend more on developing antibiotics. This could also be good for Redx.
The problem of drug resistant bacteria has been brewing for a long time. In fact, in 1945 when Alexander Fleming received his Nobel Prize for discovering penicillin he warned of the dangers of misusing antibiotics. Since then, the drugs have been overused for treating disease in both humans and farm animals. Plus, an unwillingness by pharmaceutical companies to get involved in the fight against bacteria means no new class of antibiotic has been discovered for the past three decades.
