From local issue to global challenge: a brief overview of antibiotic shortages since the 1970s

Antibiotic shortages have become a global issue, affecting countries worldwide. These shortages often lead to the overuse of specialized or emergency-reserve antibiotics, which impacts the treatment and increases the risk of drug resistance, making infections harder to treat over time. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the severity of these shortages, showing they are neither rare nor isolated but rather common and widespread. This short commentary explores two main questions: firstly, how has antibiotic shortage developed into a serious concern for countries like the United States and Europe, once leaders in antibiotic production; and secondly, how has antibiotic shortage grown from localized and isolated issues into the global concern, affecting countries around the world? By employing historical analysis, this commentary aims to underscore the growing but overlooked issue, pointing to a broad and deeply rooted problem of the pharmaceutical production landscape.