The World Needs New Antibiotics, but the Business Model Is Broken
The push for antibiotics to fight fast-evolving superbugs is snagging on a broken business model. Six startups have won Food and Drug Administration approval for new antibiotics since 2017. All have filed for bankruptcy, been acquired or are shutting down.
About 80% of the 300 scientists who worked at the companies have abandoned antibiotic development, according to Kevin Outterson, executive director of CARB-X, a government-funded group promoting research in the field. “These companies are supposed to be the winners, but every one of them is an unhappy story," Outterson said. The reason, the companies say: They couldn’t sell their lifesaving products because the system that produces drugs for cancer and Alzheimer’s disease—which counts on companies selling enough of a new treatment or charging a high enough price to reward investors and make a profit—isn’t working for antibiotics.
New antibiotics are meant to be used rarely and briefly to defeat the most pernicious infections so bacteria don’t develop resistance to them too quickly. Companies have priced them at 100 times as much as the generic antibiotics doctors have prescribed for decades that cost a few dollars per dose. Most have sold poorly.
“Antibiotics are like fire extinguishers. You really want these drugs available but you mostly don’t want to use them. That’s the paradox," said Dr.
John H. Rex, an infectious-disease specialist. Nabriva Therapeutics terminated its 60 remaining employees this year and is seeking a buyer, four years after the FDA approved its antibiotic Xenleta for pneumonia.
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