UK study warns of threat of antibiotics overuse, lack of new drugs

World Today

A recent UK report suggests superbugs would kill one person every three seconds by 2050, if it is not dealt with. The Review on Antimicrobial Resistance said the overuse of antibiotics and the lack of new drugs will make us vulnerable to drug-resistant infections.

CCTV’s Richard Bestic has the story from London.

Antibiotics were the miracle drug of the 20th century. But, a generation of superbugs have emerged, resistant to just about all mankind’s arsenal of antibiotics.

Jim O’Neill, the chair of a U.K. government-backed study, said without effective antibiotics, 10 million people could die every year.

The world must consume fewer antibiotics, he said, while at the same time recommending the global the pharmaceutical industry be paid by governments to produce more new drugs.

“The amount of money we’re to give the right successful producer covers the commercial cost, because of course you can’t expect them to do it voluntarily, ” O’Neill said.

O’Neill hails a $175 million dollar commitment from China and Britain to an antibiotics ‘Innovation Fund’ as a measure of government commitment. He’s also looking to July’s G20 summit in Shanghai as a means of mustering a global response.