Download Economic impact and health risks associated to a novel antibiotic

Economic impact and health risks associated to a novel
antibiotic developed resistance.
I. Mantzourani1, S. Plessas1, A. Alexopoulos1, X. Voidarou2 and E. Bezirtzoglou1
(1)
Democritus University of Thrace, Faculty of Agricultural Development, GR68200,
Orestiada, Greece.
(2)
Technological Educational Institute of Epirus, GR47100, Arta, Greece
Microbes are constantly mutating and some of the mutations happen to confer
immunity to one drug or another. Exacerbating the problem, bacteria constantly
exchange bits of DNA with each other spreading that resistance. Collaborative
research should be actively promoted through the support of large scale clinical,
epidemiological and health economic studies of the cost-effectiveness of antibiotics in
the management of infected patients.
In this vein, we welcome the opportunity to evaluate the antibiotic resistance profile
of 182 clinical microbial isolates against the novel antibiotic Tigecycline.
According to our results, MIC values ranged from 0.03 to 0.5 mg/l, while the most
resistant stains were Pseudomonas sp.
The problem of managing antibiotic
effectiveness is an ongoing challenge and we have a long way to go before we really
understand what policy responses will work and at what cost.
Another aspect important to consider may be the health effects of antibiotic resistance
of the employees and workers exposed constantly in a pharmaceutical industry
producing antibiotics. Human health effects reflect a potential cost of production. The
availability of highly-skilled biotech labor and innovations in the use of contained
production system are catalyzing market expansion of the production.
It is then conceivable that all antibiotics should be used judiciously in innovated
equipped pharmaceutical plants. Prudence is especially important for new medicines
of last resort as Tigecycline.