Bacteria are constantly mutating and looking for new ways to kill us. And since antibiotics are over-prescribed and being added to livestock feed as a preventive measure rather than to treat animals that are actually sick, currently available antibiotics are losing their effectiveness.
Drug companies are no longer doing research on new antibiotics, because antibiotics actually cure things and hence are not profitable. Today's drug companies are only interested in treatments that last a lifetime. Pfizer was the last drug company doing research into new antibiotics, and they closed that division because it wasn't (and wasn't going to be) profitable.
I think the fact that drug companies and medicine in general are not focused on important problems, but only on profitable problems, is a major issue we should be addressing. See the recent Frontline documentary "Hunting the Nightmare Bacteria"
Drug companies are no longer doing research on new antibiotics, because antibiotics actually cure things and hence are not profitable. Today's drug companies are only interested in treatments that last a lifetime. Pfizer was the last drug company doing research into new antibiotics, and they closed that division because it wasn't (and wasn't going to be) profitable.
I think the fact that drug companies and medicine in general are not focused on important problems, but only on profitable problems, is a major issue we should be addressing. See the recent Frontline documentary "Hunting the Nightmare Bacteria"
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/hunting-the-nightmar...