Merck discontinues a crucial antibiotic despite concerns over superbug resistance

The article notes that Merck is no longer supplying Recarbrio, an antibiotic used to treat serious infections in adults and children that no longer respond to other treatments, in the US. This leaves just one antibiotic approved for the same uses, raising concerns about how this could contribute to drug-resistance.

It notes a finding from the 2026 AMR Benchmark which found that the number of potential antimicrobial treatments being developed by the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies dropped by 35% over the past five years.

Jayasree Iyer, CEO of the Foundation is quoted: “Big pharma has been leaving infectious disease R&D for some time now and biotech companies filling that gap have little bandwidth to commercialize and scale up what they innovate, and many have gone bankrupt.

“Companies leaving or discontinuing a product often cite little commercial value, which is true, as these products are not going to bring in the profits or even revenues at high volumes. But they are critical products and I still think a company as large as Merck has the bandwidth to keep production running compared to a biotech company.”