This podcast series brings together leading international experts to explore the history of pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical markets across the twentieth century. Through in-depth conversations, it examines a wide range of themes, including antimicrobial resistance, human experimentation, pharmaceutical marketing strategies, drug politics, and the evolving relationships between diseases, therapies, and health.
Episode 1: Antibiotics at the Brink
Microbial Resistance and the Financial Logic of Pharmaceutical Markets, 1980–2024
In this episode, Felix Rietmann sits down with historian Claas Kirchhelle (CERMES3/INSERIM) to trace the intertwined financial, medical, and political forces that have shaped today’s crisis of microbial resistance. Moving between past and present, their conversation revisits the rise of antibiotics and the evolution of pharmaceutical innovation, before turning to the emergence—and strategic use—of the “empty drug pipeline” metaphor. Along the way, they reflect on how these histories continue to inform the complex challenges of governing antibiotics today.