Infectious disease has been rough going for all comers the past few years, as companies have floundered. Appili Therapeutics Inc.’s CEO, Armand Balboni saw the troubles others encountered with the indication and also saw companies with thin pipelines struggle, but it hasn’t stopped him from forging on.
Throughout the year we have published the views of company executives, government regulators, industry analysts and scientists on a variety of topics and, in our popular annual feature, we include a selection of these that paints a picture of the significant events that shaped 2019.
It should be motoring to profitability, but nine months after the U.S. launch of its new antibiotic, Zemdri (plazomicin), Achaogen Inc. has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy and is now selling off its assets.
There has been a flurry of news flowing from companies developing new antibiotics during the month and the BioWorld Infectious Diseases index, after languishing for the past several months, is tracking up 5% for October. The activity comes against the backdrop of the completion of the AMR Challenge.
WASHINGTON – In case any question remained about who shoulders the blame for the serious lack of viable innovation in the infectious disease specialty, a panel at the Infectious Disease Society of America's IDWeek 2019 came with a surprisingly accusatory subtitle: "How ID Killed Antibiotic Development." Observing what Vivo Capital Managing Partner Chen Yu called "an existential crisis for the specialty," the session served as a call for action for infectious disease (ID) doctors to take control of prescribing, put patient care ahead of cost management, and advocate for both faster changes to clinical guidelines and legislative improvements to better position the industry.
Although various government incentives have been introduced in the past few years to encourage and support more research and development designed to accelerate the discovery of new antibiotics, they, in themselves, have not been enough.
It has been acknowledged by governments around the world that there are simply not enough antibiotics currently in the product pipeline to meet the predicted requirements of their health care systems. Not good news considering that antibiotic resistance continues to be a major societal concern, with the CDC estimating that in the U.S. alone at least 2 million people contract an antibiotic-resistant infection, and at least 23,000 people die annually as a result.
