AMR has dangerous implications for human life, including the possibility of death triggered by drug-resistant bacterial and fungal infections. The last time a class of broad-spectrum antibiotics was developed was about five decades ago. Lack of awareness around AMR is prompting people to misuse antibiotics for infections that are not bacterial—particularly viral and fungal. The disease-causing bacteria in our bodies are developing resistance to the antibiotics and very soon we’ll run out of the strongest antibiotics available. At the same time, low- and middle-income countries struggle to get access to new life-saving antibiotics. This has serious consequences: when we genuinely need antibiotics to deal with medical issues like C-section deliveries, basic surgeries, pneumonia and tuberculosis, the antibiotics will be rendered useless and will not work on killing the disease-causing bacteria.

Pharmaceutical companies have largely stayed away from antimicrobial work because the science is hard, the regulatory environment is complex and the return on investment is low. It also takes years of research and trials to develop new antibiotics, whereas bacteria replicate and potentially mutate every 20 minutes. So when a new class of antibiotics is developed and made available to the public, there won’t be an end game because we know how quickly bacteria mutate and it is not possible to create new classes of broad-spectrum antibiotics as quickly. The motivation for pharmaceutical companies to invest resources to develop a new class of antibiotics is low because it would have to be used only as a last-resort drug—when all else fails—and wouldn’t be available as a mass product. Therefore, the financial incentives to develop antibiotics are far less compared to drugs for cancer, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and other such illnesses.

AMR is not restricted to bacterial infections, but also extends to viral infections, parasitic worms and pathogenic fungi. Addressing AMR beyond bacterial infections is challenging due to limited treatment options, slow drug development and inadequate diagnostics. Resistant viruses, fungi and parasitic worms have fewer available drugs, and pharmaceutical investment is low. Lack of rapid, affordable diagnostic tools is delaying effective treatment. Complex resistance mechanisms in fungi and parasites make research and drug design difficult. Global health disparities hinder surveillance and access to treatments, especially in low-income regions.