Let charities take a leading role in discovering antibiotics | the big issue

There is a thriving charity sector developing new drugs - let them work on antibiotic resistance

Seventy years ago Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin, in his Nobel prize acceptance speech warned that inappropriate use of antibiotics would give rise to resistance ("Time for world to act on antibiotic resistance", leader, Comment). Fleming's prediction has come to pass and antibiotic resistance is now threatening modern medicine.

Routine procedures including heart bypass surgery, hip and knee replacements, cancer treatments, childbirth, trauma surgery and intensive care treatments all depend on functioning antibiotics. Some patients such as those with cystic fibrosis have to be on regular antibiotic administration - for these patients and many others antibiotic-resistant infections can kill.

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