Superbug threat rekindles antibiotic research
LONDON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Antibiotic research -- a Cinderella sector of drug discovery in recent years -- may be moving back into the pharmaceutical mainstream as the threat from "superbugs" increases.
GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK.L) became the latest manufacturer to recommit to the area on Thursday, with the announcement it was setting up three new drug-discovery units, including one devoted to infectious diseases.
"We are going to double our anti-infectives bet," Chief Executive Jean-Pierre Garnier told analysts in a post-results presentation.
"Society needs more antibiotics. By the time we get through, we think there will be a story on the front pages of the newspapers about healthy people dying from resistant bugs and hospitals having to shut down their burns units and the like."
Glaxo's decision follows a similar move by British rival AstraZeneca Plc (AZN.L), which last month said it was investing $100 million at a research centre near Boston, Massachusetts, largely to scale up its work on infectious diseases.
In the past, antibiotics have been viewed by drug companies as a low-growth area and only 10 new antibacterials have been introduced since 1998, of which just two were truly novel.
But the emergence of so-called hospital superbugs such as MRSA, which are resistant to existing medicines, has increased the need for alternative treatments -- and it seems to be changing the economic incentives.
CHANGING ASSUMPTIONS
Until now, the limited financial upside from finding a new antibiotic has been a big deterrent for drugmakers.
Any new superbug-killing medicine developed for hospitals is likely to be kept under lock and key for use only in dire emergencies, to minimise the risk of resistance -- hardly a recipe for blockbuster sales.
As a result, investment in antibiotics has declined, with some companies quitting the field or concentrating on antiviral research or simply focusing on lucrative chronic conditions such as high cholesterol or depression, where regular drug use is guaranteed.
But the severity of the superbug threat, and the danger of them spreading into the community, is changing those assumptions.
Still, industry analysts believe antibiotics will remain a tricky area for companies.
Recent questions over Sanofi-Aventis SA's (SASY.PA) new antibiotic Ketek highlight some of the problems faced by manufacturers and regulators in establishing the balance of risks against benefits for powerful new bacteria killers.
Sanofi argues Ketek is an important option for dealing with hard-to-treat infections.
But U.S. advisers said in December its use should be limited to treating pneumonia, after reviewing rare cases of liver failure and other problems.
The recommendation means the French drugmaker will likely be barred from promoting the drug in bronchitis and sinusitis, reducing its commercial potential.
