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A new CDC report found that in 2020 — a time when COVID was aggressively spreading throughout the U.S. — antibacterial infections and deaths in hospitals increased 15% compared to the prior year.
Pathogens that saw that the biggest rise in antibiotic-resistant infections were carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter (72% increase) and multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (32% increase).
The agency also found fungal infections rose as well with Candida auris increasing the most at 60%.
The report noted that in 2020, more than 29,400 people died from antimicrobial-resistant infections and of this number, ~40% got infected while in the hospital.
In 2020, the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation released the National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria, 2020-2025, a document intended to focus on infection prevention, slowing the spread of resistant infections, and reducing the need for antibiotic use.
Several biopharmas are working on new antibiotics to deal with antibiotic resistance. According to the Access to Medicine Foundation’s 2021 Antimicrobial Resistance Benchmark report, GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK), followed by Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), Novartis (NYSE:NVS), and Sanofi (SNY) have the largest pipelines dedicated to new antibiotics.
In 2020, Pfizer (PFE) pledged $100M to the Antimicrobial Resistance Action Fund.
