A Systems Biology View of the Development of New Antimicrobial Therapies

Abstract

Submit Manuscript | http://medcraveonline.com J Bacteriol Mycol Open Access 2015, 1(1): 00001 The development of antimicrobial resistance is inevitable and inherent to the remarkable mechanisms of bacterial adaptation to adverse environmental conditions in order to survive. However, many human actions have contributed to the currently observed acceleration and spread of antimicrobial resistance (poor hygiene, over prescription of antibiotics, intensive use of antibiotics in farming, etc.) and battling the antimicrobial resistance threat will require scientific, societal, and political actions to be taken. In addition to changes in human and veterinarian health care practices and new policy development for better risk assessment, there is still a crucial need for the development of new antimicrobial therapies. The number of FDA-approved antibiotics has been constantly decreasing since the 1990s and biopharmaceuticals companies are less willing to invest in the drug pipeline [4], especially for a product that bacterial resistance will eventually render obsolete. According to a Pew Charitable Trusts study, only 38 new antibiotics were in development by pharmaceutical companies in 2014 [5]. Despite the gap in the drug development pipeline, there are very promising approaches currently being applied that have led to encouraging findings in the recent years.