Nosocomial Infections - The need for new gram-negative drugs

In the US and Europe, an estimated 510% of patients are expected to develop an infection during their hospital stay. The four main types of infections that occur within the hospital setting are urinary tract infections, hospital acquired pneumonia, surgical site infections and blood-stream infections, accounting for approximately 35%, 15%, 14% and 10% respectively.

Over the past decades, there has been a notable rise in the number of hospital infections caused by gram-positive bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus and enterococci. However, the most important observation has been that of the rising numbers of gram positive bacteria resistant to several of the currently available antibiotics.

Although gram-positive organisms account for the majority of nosocomial infections, there has been a big increase in multi-drug resistant gram-negative bacteria such as extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) producing E. coli and K. pneumoniae and strains of P. aeruginosa and A. baumannii resistant to all currently available antimicrobials.

The majority of newly introduced products and products in late stage development target gram-positive bacteria such as MRSA. Although these agents have been welcomed by the infectious disease community, Datamonitor believes there is a significant opportunity for new antibacterials which can treat multi-drug resistant gram-negative organisms.

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