Thank you for your interest in a topic which concerns us all .


AstraZeneca is resisting Pfizer’s hostile take-over by claiming 10 new medicines in its development pipeline which might each generate over $ 1 billion of annual revenue – for cancer, asthma, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, arthritis and others … but no antibiotics .


Medicines account for over 12% of the NHS budget. It’s vital that they are used properly. Up to half of patients taking medicines for chronic conditions don’t take them as directed, leading to avoidable ill health and economic loss.


Developing new medicines is a costly and lengthy process. Most potential drugs never reach market. Failure in clinical trials may cost many millions of pounds. The cost and time taken to bring a medicine to market needs to be reduced.


The need for new incentives is especially true for antibiotics ! The main problems are that they are taken for a short period of time, and are either curative or don’t work because of resistance .



There’s yet another new publication on the topic of “ new medicines, better medicines, better use of medicines “ (http://www.rpharms.com/promoting-pha...ull-report.pdf ).


In this we’re again reminded that the world urgently needs new ways of treating infections to fight the increasing resistance to medicines now available. Some infections can now only be treated with antibiotics that have not been used for decades. Plants, animals, the sea, and even microbes themselves might be sources of new antibiotics classes ( for bacteria / “ bugs “ ) and antimicrobials ( including viruses and fungi ). Other possibilities include bacteriophages ( viruses which infect and kill bacteria ), or immune treatment ( using antibodies ).


At the very least, it’s worth remembering :-

• Use prescribed antibiotics ; don’t demand them against clinical advice ; obtain from a reliable pharmacist ; complete full prescription, even if you feel better ; don’t share antibiotics or use left-over prescriptions .