February 11, 2023
When you think about every drug class in human history: anti-cancer drugs, heart disease drugs, pain drugs, or anything, probably the most impactful… on helping human health has been the antimicrobials, led by antibacterials, antibiotics…But unlike most drugs… these drugs, because of the biological factor of resistance– the fact that evolution causes the bacteria to develop traits that make the antibiotics less effective against them– are the only drugs in which we need a sustainable, renewable strategy. Because the moment they’re invented, that’s the peak of their effectiveness; they begin to lose it immediately. Aspirin was invented more than 100 years ago. It still works great on me… But antibiotics, the best antibiotic we’ve seen… you need to recreate that in every generation. So the R&D challenges are uniquely different in this space.
PROFESSOR KEVIN OUTTERSON – PROFESSOR OF LAW AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY AND THE FOUNDING EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR OF CARB-X