(December 09, 2015)
Former President FPCCI Senator Haji Ghulam Ali and President PBIF, President All Karachi Industrial Alliance and First Vice Chairman of the Businessmen Panel of FPCCI Mian Zahid Hussain on Wednesday said Antibiotics are losing their effectiveness which has become a major threat to mankind which should be dealt with immediately.
Common infections are becoming drug-resistant which will by year 2050 result in losses to the tune of 100 trillion dollars in productivity and health costs, they said.
Pharma industry is focused on making drugs needed for extended periods like that of heart and kidney diseases, cancer and diabetes while ignoring antibiotics which are not required on permanent basis, said  the former Provincial Minister Mian Zahid Hussain.
BMP’s Presidential Candidate for FPCCI Elections 2016, Senator Haji Ghulam Ali said that no new class of antibiotics have been discovered since 1987 and pharma industry is not ready to invest in this sector which is alarming and has become a great threat. He further said that Drugs are taking more time to heal infections which is taking tool on pockets and economies, he added.
BMP’s First Vice Chairman Mian Zahid Hussain continued that global community should unite to thwart this threat through intervention while a major part of the response should be finding better drugs to fight these infections.
Calling for incentives, they said that drug makers lack incentive to devote research money to antibiotics as it is more lucrative to develop a medicine for chronic diseases that are taken for years and provide a stable cash flow.
