President Obama is hoping to double the amount of funding used for fighting antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Obama released a five-year plan last year to address the growing problem of antibiotic resistance that currently kills 23,000 people annually in the U.S. Experts warn that these rates will continue to increase if the trend of antibiotic resistance continues.
The proposed funding of $1.2 billion would be used to develop new antibiotics, diagnostic tools, surveillance for antibiotic resistant bacteria, and other preventative measures. Nearly half of the funding would go to the NIH and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority for the development of drugs and diagnostics.
One newly discovered, and promising, antibiotic is teixobactin. Although no human clinical trials have been conducted yet, the drug was effective when used in mice infected with a drug-resistant form of MRSA.
