Swiss inaction threatens global antibiotic development push

Switzerland is a major hub for pharmaceutical companies, but it has done little to encourage the development of new antibiotics – a shortfall that could have serious consequences at home and abroad. Global health experts have long warned that resistance to antimicrobials, including antibiotics, is a slow-moving crisis with deadly consequences. In 2019, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) caused an estimated 1.3 million deaths globally – the third leading cause of death that year, according to the Lancet. According to one estimate, by 2050, AMR could claim up to 10 million lives annually – on par with cancer. Despite these warnings, few companies are developing new antibiotics based on a basic calculation: antibiotics are expensive to develop but generate little profit. A new drug can take 10–15 years and over $1 billion (CHF790 million) to develop, but antibiotics are expected to be cheap and used sparingly to prevent resistance. This economic mismatch has led public health experts to ...