New reports from the World Health Organization suggest that “the development of new treatments and tests for drug-resistant infections is lagging.” CIDRAP has the news.
According to one analysis, “the number of antibiotics in the clinical pipeline has fallen from 97 in 2023 to 90 in 2025.” Only 15 of those 90 “qualify as innovative and only 5 are effective against at least one of the WHO’s ‘critical priority’ pathogens—multidrug-resistant bacteria that are associated with high illness and death and have limited treatment options.” Other gaps in the clinical pipeline include “a lack of antibiotics with pediatric indications and formulations and oral antibiotics for outpatient use.”
Since 2017, WHO has said “that there aren't enough new antibiotics being developed to address the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance.” Past analyses from the organization found that “most of the antibiotics in the clinical pipeline lack novelty, that they have limited clinical benefit over existing antibiotics, and that too few of them address the pathogens that the agency is most worried about.”
The WHO also released an analysis of diagnostic tests currently available or in the development pipeline, finding “several persistent gaps in the ability to quickly detect and identify priority pathogens, particularly in resource-limited settings that have been most affected by AMR.” Primary care facilities where “most people in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are treated for infections lack the sophisticated laboratories, and well-trained technicians, needed to operate and maintain” diagnostic systems.
