In Superbug War, Reliance on Just a Few Drugmakers Fuels Concern

A dependence on only a few pharma companies to sustain the fight against superbugs is putting the world in a precarious position, a new report shows.

Progress in tackling drug-resistant infections isn’t keeping pace with the rising threat, according to the latest Antimicrobial Resistance Benchmark, published Tuesday by the Access to Medicine Foundation. The pipeline of new antibiotics in advanced tests remains too small, the nonprofit found.

News from the field is grim as low profits discourage investment in crucial antibiotics. Since the group’s last report in 2018, two major players, Novartis AG and Sanofi, have retreated from antibiotic research ...