And another antibiotic drug company bites the dust


just after I finished writing the blog on Novartis, I just found out that Sanofi will be dumping their anti-infectives research and development unit (see https://www.reactgroup.org/news-and-views/news-and-opinions/year-2018/despite-industry-amr-declaration-commitments-sanofi-quits-rd-on-anti-infectives/ ). thanks (again) to Paul Susman

Details:
-- as with Novartis, Sanofi signed the 2016 Davos agreement to help deal with increasing antimicrobial resistance, specifically to “invest in Research &  Development to meet public health needs of: diagnostics and treatment, reducing the development of antimicrobial resistance, improving access to high-quality antibiotics, vaccines and diagnostics, and reducing the environmental impact of manufacturing”
-- Sanofi took a leading role in developing this antimicrobial resistance declaration and roadmap
-- Sanofi will license more than 10 anti-infectives to Evotec, a German biotech company, which will receive a €60 million payout from Sanofi​

Commentary:
-- it seems like the issue here is that the large pharmaceutical industry is either stopping or shifting their research and development of anti-infectives to smaller biotech firms. It is unclear what this means, though 2 of the large signatories on the Davos agreement have fallen by the wayside

So, the beat goes on…..

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