Antibiotics has an extensive pipeline but first-in-class innovation is low

Weak financial incentives and high failure rates have discouraged innovation in antibiotics, says a new report from business intelligence provider GBI Research.

There is currently an extensive pipeline, with 741 products in development at present, but the majority of these are generics. Financial incentives have been lacking in recent decades, with health organizations such as the UK NHS unwilling to prescribe premium products due to inferior cost effectiveness to generics.

Antibiotic development is, additionally, difficult and comes with high failure rates. Only 12 new antibiotic drugs have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency since 2000. Just four of these have had first-in-class status.