Question

Identify reasons why drug companies are pulling out of antibiotic research. Include a discussion of how antibiotics differ from other drugs such as cholesterol drugs.

Answer 1

There are many drug companies available throughout the world some are small scale production unit and some are large scale production units.One of the main reason for pulling out of antibiotic research is cost.
Generally it costs about millions to develop of a new antibiotic against a disease.And it takes so many years to get approval for that particular antibiotic inorder to test via pre clinical,all four clinical trials and then market approval and it should have proper effect against particular infectious organism.
Expenses for maintaining proper conditions,infrastructure,production, distribution and marketing are very high for antibiotic drugs.Generally if a drug fails in any of the clinical trials again they have to start from the scratch.

Usually antibiotics are not used every time interval like diabetic drugs,cholesterol drugs,cancer drugs.So making income is very less.In recent years some antibiotic resistance strains are developed so if a drug is not effective against organisms it's usage will be reduced.These are the main reason for pulling out of antibiotic research.

Generally a drug is any chemical substance that are naturally or synthetically prepared to treat any diseases.
Antibiotics are the the drugs which are used to treat the bacterial infections,it can be bacteriostatic or bactericidal i.e either kill or inhibit the bacterial growth and prevent infection.

Eg : Peniciliin

As said above other drugs are used to treat certain conditions,for example lovastatin is cholesterol controlling drug,it has the ability to inhibit the enzyme called HMG -CoA reductase involved in cholesterol synthesis.This enzyme activity is high in hypercholestremic condition.So by providing the drug this enzyme’s activity is reduced and further it inhibits the pathways and control the condition.

Hope this helps you to resolve your doubts:)