Total use of antibiotics

Antibiotic resistance in European countries

Streptococcus pneumoniae: proportion of invasive isolates non-susceptible to penicillin (PNSP) in 2008.

Development of new antibiotics on the decline

(Number of new antibiotics approved in the USA 1983-2009.)

As you can see in the picture, the development of new antibiotics has slowed down in the United States. The phenomenon is universal. Professor Ville Valtonen, Chief Physician of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Helsinki-Uusimaa Hospital District, was interviewed for our main story, and he considers it problematic that less and less antibiotics are being developed while the number of resistant bacteria is growing.

“There are two reasons for this: First of all, it costs over a billion euros to develop a new antibiotic and it takes about 10 years. Scientific intelligence could be found, but not necessarily money. Funding is rather directed towards medicines, which enjoy high consumption figures. However, the level of infections caused by resistant bacteria is low, in Finland approximately 5 percent of all infections. Another contributing factor is that many people think that in the long run the problem can be better influenced by vaccines”, professor Valtonen thinks.