- Blog
- News & Media
- Issues
- About The Biopharmaceutical Sector
- Access and Affordability
- Adherence
- Appropriate Use Of Medicines
- Counterfeit Drugs
- Disaster Response
- Drug Safety
- Environmental Issues
- Food And Drug Administration
- Importation
- Intellectual Property
- International
- Medical Advances
- Medicare
- Prescription Drug Abuse
- Prescription Drug User Fee Act
- Sales And Marketing
- Value of Medicines
- Research
- About
Medicines in Development for Infectious Disease
Throughout history, infectious diseases have taken a devastating toll on the lives and well-being of people around the world. Caused when pathogens such as bacteria or viruses enter a body and multiply, infectious diseases were the leading cause of death in the United States until the 1920s.
Today, vaccines and antibiotics have proven to be effective treatments in many cases, but infectious diseases still pose a very serious threat to patients. Recently, some infectious pathogens, such as staphylococcal bacteria, have become resistant to available treatments. Diseases once considered conquered, such as tuberculosis, have reemerged as a growing health threat. And, alarmingly, some infectious agents have been manipulated for use in bioterrorist attacks.
America’s biopharmaceutical research companies are developing 395 medicines and vaccines to combat the many threats posed by infectious diseases. Each of these medicines in development is either in clinical trials or under review by the Food and Drug Administration.
Among the medicines now being tested are 88 antibiotics/antibacterials for treating bacterial infections such as pneumonia and tuberculosis; 96 antivirals for treating such viruses as hepatitis, herpes and influenza; and 145 vaccines to prevent or treat diseases such as staph infections and pneumococcal infections. Not included in this report are medicines in development for HIV infection. A 2009 survey by PhRMA found 97 medicines and vaccines are in testing for HIV/AIDS and AIDS-related conditions.
Some examples of the potential medicines for fight- ing infectious diseases include:
- Two combined monoclonal antibodies that bind to, neutralize, and destroy toxins caused by Escherichia coli infections.
- A medicine for the most common and difficult-to-treat form of hepatitis C that inhibits the enzyme essential for viral replication.
- An anti-malarial drug that has shown activity against Plasmodium falciparum malaria that is resistant to current treatments.
MEDICINES IN DEVELOPMENT FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASES
- A potential new class of antibiotics to treat methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
- A novel treatment that works by blocking the ability of the smallpox virus to spread to other cells, thus preventing it from causing disease.
- Biopharmaceutical researchers also are focusing their efforts on new treatments for fungal infections, herpes, influenza, meningitis, pneumonia, respiratory infections, rotavirus, sepsis, smallpox, and urinary tract infections, among others.
Infectious diseases may never be eradicated. However, new knowledge, new technologies, and a huge com- mitment of resources by America’s biopharmaceutical research companies and the government can help meet the continuing—and ever-changing—threat from infectious diseases.
Resources
