Even as antimicrobial resistance is expected to continue to grow, the development of much-needed novel antibiotics and antifungals remains trapped in a catch-22 in which funding is available for early stage research but not necessarily for the translational work necessary to bring the drugs to market.
After nearly 20 years in development, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.’s antiviral drug, maribavir, will get its day before the FDA’s Antimicrobial Drugs Advisory Committee Oct. 7. During the course of its development by various companies, the drug’s indication has morphed from a prophylaxis to a treatment of resistant or refractory cytomegalovirus infection in both solid organ and hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients.
A team of researchers has created peptide-like molecules – "peptoids" – with antiviral properties that could circumvent the naturally occurring antimicrobial peptides' shortcomings.
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.