A new mathematical model suggests that in addition to looking for new drugs, we should also be using strategies to prolong the life of old ones.
Most drugs only work for a certain period of time until organisms develop resistance. This lifetime can be prolonged by using antibiotics sparingly or combining them into ‘drug cocktails’ which decreases the chance that resistant organisms will survive and pass on their genes.
In the study a mathematical model is used to show that if the goal is to prevent a scenario where there are no useful drugs left, interventions that prolong the lifetime of current drugs can have a slightly stronger effect than those designed to increase the rate of drug discovery. However, the authors stress that both strategies are needed to prevent the prospect of a world without antibiotics.
Original research paper published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences on November 4, 2014.
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