Drug-Resistant Gonorrhoea Spreads as Last Antibiotic Fails
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- Extensively drug-resistant gonorrhoea strains detected in Cambodia have spread to France and Australia, with 82 million new global cases in 2020 and only ceftriaxone remaining as a recommended treatment, according to Beyer.
- Zoliflodacin, developed by the Global Antibiotic Research & Development Partnership under a not-for-profit model, is the first new antibiotic developed solely for gonorrhoea in decades.
- The traditional pharmaceutical R&D model has repeatedly failed to deliver needed antibiotics because it prioritizes profitability over public health need, leaving populations in low- and middle-income countries with the fewest replacements, per the source.
- Community-acquired drug-resistant infections such as MRSA are increasingly common in everyday environments and are proving particularly deadly for cancer patients and other vulnerable groups.
- Antimicrobial resistance causes nearly 5 million deaths annually, a toll the source projects will rise 70% by 2050, with resistance now outpacing the development of new replacement antibiotics.
- Antibiotic stewardship and infection control alone cannot address the crisis, because resistance is outpacing new drug development and one in six bacterial infections is now resistant to first-line antibiotics.
Why it matters: Drug-resistant gonorrhoea has already spread from Cambodia to France and Australia, leaving only ceftriaxone as a reliable treatment. Nearly 5 million annual AMR deaths — projected to rise 70% by 2050 — show the stakes, while profit-driven pharmaceutical R&D is failing to develop antibiotics for the populations that need them most, per Beyer.
