Why Can’t We Find New Antibiotics?

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Antibiotics save millions of lives, but bacteria are constantly evolving to beat the drugs we use to fight them. 

Eventually, bacteria may become resistant to every form of antibiotic we have. That’s why finding new antibiotics is so important, but serious scientific barriers stand in the way. 

See the challenges that scientists face in their search for new antibiotics—and what we can do to overcome them.

Learn more about antibiotic resistance here: Antibiotic Resistance Project.

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The Fight Against Antibiotic Resistance

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Nearly a century after Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin, bacteria continue to develop the ability to defeat antibiotics. Doctors worldwide are concerned about the spread of superbugs that are resistant to all antibiotics. Host Dan LeDuc visits Fleming’s London lab for some history and talks with Pew’s Allan Coukell about current efforts to reduce unnecessary use of these drugs and encourage development of new ones.

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In recent decades, the discovery and development of new antibiotics have slowed dramatically as scientific barriers to drug discovery, regulatory challenges, and diminishing returns on investment have led major drug companies to scale back or abandon their antibiotic research.

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Antibiotic-resistant bacteria, also known as “superbugs,” are a major threat to modern medicine. But how does resistance work, and what can we do to slow the spread? Read personal stories, expert accounts, and more for the answers to those questions in our four-week email series: Slowing Superbugs.