The problem with antibiotics
Research output: Contribution to journal › Letter › Research
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The problem with antibiotics. / Darrow, Jonathan; Minssen, Timo.
In: The Economist, Vol. 431, No. 9144, 05.2019, p. 20.Research output: Contribution to journal › Letter › Research
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TY - JOUR
T1 - The problem with antibiotics
AU - Darrow, Jonathan
AU - Minssen, Timo
PY - 2019/5
Y1 - 2019/5
N2 - While greater incentives and new funding models for antibiotic drug develooment are needed, it is unclear whether a system dependent on endlessly churning out new and ever more expensive medicines will be economically feasible and scientifically possible in the long term. Greater priority should therefore be given to implementing more permanent solutions that are not limited to slowing resistance, which at best merely shifts the problem from today’s generation to the next, an ethically murky result. While no single approach is likely to be sufficient, governments should begin by reviving the moribund vision of using the vaccines, treatments, and other tools that are already at hand to eradicate disease and thereby stop -- not slow -- the development of resistance. Due to non-human disease vectors and other challenges, eradication may not currently be possible for every disease, but for those diseases amenable to it, the window of opportunity may fast be closing.
AB - While greater incentives and new funding models for antibiotic drug develooment are needed, it is unclear whether a system dependent on endlessly churning out new and ever more expensive medicines will be economically feasible and scientifically possible in the long term. Greater priority should therefore be given to implementing more permanent solutions that are not limited to slowing resistance, which at best merely shifts the problem from today’s generation to the next, an ethically murky result. While no single approach is likely to be sufficient, governments should begin by reviving the moribund vision of using the vaccines, treatments, and other tools that are already at hand to eradicate disease and thereby stop -- not slow -- the development of resistance. Due to non-human disease vectors and other challenges, eradication may not currently be possible for every disease, but for those diseases amenable to it, the window of opportunity may fast be closing.
KW - Faculty of Law
KW - vaccines
KW - antimicrobials
KW - resistance
KW - incentives
KW - law
KW - regulation
M3 - Letter
VL - 431
SP - 20
JO - The Economist
JF - The Economist
SN - 1821-3715
IS - 9144
ER -
ID: 217616129