Compounding the issue is a stagnant pharmaceutical pipeline. Major drug companies have largely abandoned the research and development of new antibiotics over the past three decades. The economic model for antibiotic development is fundamentally flawed; unlike chronic medications for hypertension or diabetes that patients take daily for life, antibiotics are curative drugs used for short durations. Furthermore, any newly discovered breakthrough antibiotic would be strictly rationed by doctors as a "last resort" defense to preserve its efficacy, severely limiting its market volume and profitability. Consequently, pharmaceutical giants prefer to allocate their R&D budgets to far more lucrative therapeutic areas.
| Question | Answer | Location in Text | |----------|--------|------------------| | 12 | / selected | “When a person takes an antibiotic, the drug kills the defenseless bacteria, leaving behind – or ‘selecting,’ in biological terms – those that can resist it”. | | 13 | six / 1 in 6 / one in six | “One in six laboratory-confirmed bacterial infections worldwide in 2023 were resistant to standard antibiotic treatments”. | Compounding the issue is a stagnant pharmaceutical pipeline
Antibiotics have transformed medicine since their widespread introduction in the mid‑20th century, but their overuse has triggered a dangerous biological backlash. Bacteria are remarkably adaptable: when exposed to antibiotics, those with natural resistance survive and multiply, while susceptible strains die off. Over time, populations of resistant bacteria become the dominant form. Furthermore, bacteria can share resistance genes directly through a process called “horizontal gene transfer,” accelerating the spread of resistance across different species. | | 13 | six / 1 in
For nearly a century, antibiotics have been the bedrock of modern medicine. The accidental discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming in 1928 transformed global healthcare, turning once-fatal infections like pneumonia and tuberculosis into treatable ailments. This medical revolution allowed complex surgeries, organ transplants, and cancer therapies to become routine practices. However, humanity’s reliance on these "miracle drugs" has triggered an unintended evolutionary crisis. Today, bacteria are mutating faster than we can develop new drugs to kill them, ushering in an era of unprecedented global threat: antibiotic resistance. while susceptible strains die off.
Pharmaceutical companies are investing heavily in new antibiotic research.