"Superbug" R&D provides difficult field for innovation

The area of drug resistant bacterial strains is one of the most emotive for patients facing a hospital stay in the UK, with fears over methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus being stoked by horror stories in the national media. The Patients' Association, a UK group that campaigns for improved infection control, claims that patients have cancelled operations for fear of contracting MRSA in National Health Service facilities. Official figures support the view that infection rates in UK hospitals are higher than in many other European countries, according to a report in the Financial Times.

The problems facing researchers looking for remedies to drug-resistant bacteria is that the most obvious solutions have already been tried out, leaving more expensive and risky areas. UK-based drug giant GlaxoSmithKline told the Nature Reviews Drug Discovery journal that research into 300 bacterial genes had produced only five leads for further development. According to Datamonitor, most of the drug majors have either scrapped or downsized their R&D efforts in this area. Small UK biotechnology firms are stepping in with new approaches to tackling drug-resistant organisms and may find a niche market. MRSA drugs alone could provide worldwide sales of $6.0 billion in 2012, from about $1.3 billion in 2005.