Concern over dearth of new medicines to fight infection

Just one new antibiotic for use by GPs has been brought to the Irish market in the last six years, leading to concern about keeping up with the resistance to the drugs.

Fosfomycin, a drug used to treat urinary tract infections, is the only new antibiotic to go on the market since 2008, according to the latest edition of the Irish Medicines Formulary.

The guide, which provides information on all drugs on sale in Ireland, says it is alarming that so few new antibiotics are being developed at a time when resistance to existing antibiotics is growing.

In contrast, in an indication of the rapid progress being made in fighting cancer, 43 new oncology drugs have been launched here over the same period.

A lack of investment by drug companies into antibiotic research has been blamed for the paucity of new product development.

Antibiotics are less profitable than other drugs because they are used for short periods to treat curable infections. However, Martin Cormican, professor of bacteriology at the school of medicine at NUI Galway, believes the real problem has to do with "biological barriers" posed by problematic bacteria that prevent the development of effective new antibiotics.