The Faltering Antibiotic Pipeline

Policy initiatives are needed to stabilize the fragile antibiotic R&D ecosystem

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is causing the antibiotics that treat infectious disease to grow ineffective. This is one of the greatest health crises of our time. Antibiotics are the foundation of our modern health systems–without them, we could not safely administer chemotherapy, conduct surgeries like organ transplants or caesarian sections, or treat chronic diseases like diabetes. Every year, approximately 5 million deaths are associated with bacterial AMR.

New antibiotics save lives by offering treatment options for resistant bacteria. However, the antibiotic development pipeline is slowing down. Only 4 new antibiotics were approved in the last five years–compare that to the 1980s, when 4-6 new antibiotics were being approved per year. The world is now facing significant challenges in responding to untreatable infections and our global antibiotic pipeline is not sufficient to solve the problem.

Explore the interactive pipeline below to see how progress has slowed