Poorer nations still lack access to world’s key antibiotics

Only 54 of 166 assessed treatments have policies aiding use by low-income countries, says non-profit group

The world's biggest drugs makers have pressed on in the fight against superbugs despite the pandemic, but millions of people in poorer countries, where the risk of drug-resistant infections is highest, are still missing out on key antibiotics.

A report from the Access to Medicine Foundation, an Amsterdam-based non-profit group, shows that only 54 of 166 medicines and vaccines assessed are covered by an access strategy to make them available to low- and middle-income countries.