What Are the Social and Economic Implications of MRSA?

Edmond LaVoie, PhD, professor and chair, Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, co-founder of TAXIS Pharmaceuticals, and co-author of the study on the new MRSA drug, TXA709, discusses the social and economic implications of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Interview Transcript (slightly modified for readability)

“MRSA was an infection which was predominantly in a hospital setting; however, this has changed and it has spread now into the community. There [is an] increasing number [of people] now in the general public who have gotten MRSA infections, and there is a great deal of interest in terms of therapies that can be successfully applied in view of the limited number of drugs that are efficacious against MRSA.

In fact, as news of our work has spread through publications, Dr. Pilch and I have received numerous calls and inquiries in terms of seeing whether or not individuals could participate in some of the early clinical trials, based, again, on the social concerns and prevalence of MRSA infection as it exists today.

On the economic side, the treatment of MRSA infection is associated with annual healthcare costs on the order of about $3 billion dollars a year. There is a great economic impact, and certainly a great social impact in terms of the concerns that people have for such a very serious and lethal infection.”