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Antibiotics and the Problem of the Broken Market

The world needs new antibiotics. Wesley Stephenson asks how to entice big pharmaceuticals back in to the market.

It is a life and death situation – the world is at its last line of defence against some pretty nasty bacteria and there are no new antibiotics. But it is not the science that’s the big problem, it is the economics. Despite the $40 billion market worldwide there is no money to be made in antibiotics so big pharmaceuticals have all but stopped their research. Why is this and how do we entice them back in? Wesley Stephenson finds out.

(Image: Computer artwork of bacteria. Credit: Science Photo Library)

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9 minutes

Last on

Mon 29 Feb 2016 14:50GMT

Broadcasts

  • Fri 26 Feb 2016 20:50GMT
  • Fri 26 Feb 2016 21:50GMT
  • Mon 29 Feb 2016 02:50GMT
  • Mon 29 Feb 2016 03:50GMT
  • Mon 29 Feb 2016 04:50GMT
  • Mon 29 Feb 2016 05:50GMT
  • Mon 29 Feb 2016 07:50GMT
  • Mon 29 Feb 2016 13:50GMT
  • Mon 29 Feb 2016 14:50GMT

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