An Indian biologist assures Big Pharma doesn’t want to find an antibiotic that can kill superbugs

Research Jalis de la Serna and team Express delivery Things are coming to an end and the lessons learned are devastating: if we don’t stop this soon Antibiotic abuse Across the world, superbugs will become the world’s leading cause of death. It is estimated that by 2040, more than 10 million people worldwide will die from antibiotic resistance.

However, Science comes to the rescue, again.in a center bangaloreAt India’s largest biotech incubator, a large group of scientists is developing an antibiotic that will be able to fight bacteria that are currently unfightable. “This is what we want to do: Reach out to the worst germs and eliminate them as quickly as possible

” said biomedical engineer Anand Anandkumar. Microbiologist Vashanti Ramachandras added, “Even bacteria that are already resistant. “

The last broad-spectrum antibiotics, capable of killing a wide range of bacteria, became available in the 1960s. Now, they are working on similar products. “Antibiotic resistance is a serious problem with no solutions and India is one of the worst affected countries. So we say: Why not create a new antibiotic? Start here. Sometimes the best weapon against the enemy comes from the war zone,” said Anand Kumar.

Ramachandras said it will fight urinary tract and abdominal infections as well as pneumonia and will Ready to launch in 2027 or 2028

. But no matter how magical it may seem, the reality is that it’s simply not profitable for the big players in the industry. “The benefit of antibiotics is not huge, probably around €450 million. Our goal is to use less of it because bacteria have the ability to adapt. That’s whyOr Big Pharma abandons infection research. In fact, almost all our employees come from AstraZeneca,” confirmed the engineer. “AstraZeneca closed its operations. Researching cancer or diabetes is more profitable for them“.

Funding for the project comes from public funds, the European Union, the Government of Liechtenstein, the United States or the Government of India. “After Covid-19, everyone realized what pandemics can do: they can take away lives and livelihoods. So countries started asking themselves: should we fund antibiotic research as much as we do antibiotic research? defense infrastructure

? When you build a ship or plane, you don’t think about how many times you’re going to use them. “You just want to save them so when the bad day comes, the plane is ready.”