The effectiveness of antibiotics in treating infections in patients is declining as antibiotic-resistant bacteria become alarmingly powerful. We might be failing to understand the cliche that the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is caused by the overuse and abuse of antibiotics. The high cost of pharmaceuticals serves as an example of the failure of the current system. One medicine costs over $5 billion and takes 15 years to create. There is minimal input into the open-loop system that produces new medications. Because pharmaceuticals are not tailored, this ineffective method produces drugs that are dangerous to the majority of the target population and only work for a small portion of that population. This issue can only be resolved by a complete return to nature rather than by just increasing R&D spending.
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