Prime Minister warns of global threat of antibiotic resistance
2 Jul 2014 03:19 PM
The Prime Minister David
Cameron today called for global action to tackle the growing threat of
resistance to antibiotics.
Growing numbers of bacterial and
viral infections are resistant to antimicrobial drugs, but no new classes of
antibiotics have come on the market for more than 25 years.
Around 25,000 people already die
each year from infections resistant to antibiotic drugs in Europe alone and the
lack of new drugs which are capable of fighting bacteria has been described by
the World Health Organization as one of the most significant global risks
facing modern medicine.
The Prime Minister wants Britain
to lead the way, using its international leadership and world-class
pharmaceutical sector - which employs thousands of highly-skilled experts and
is a key part of the country’s economy – to battle against
antimicrobial resistant infections and bring new drugs to the world
market.
Mr Cameron has commissioned a
wide reaching independent review, led by the internationally renowned economist
Jim O’Neill and co-funded and hosted by the world’s second largest
medical research foundation, the Wellcome Trust, to explore the economic issues
surrounding antimicrobial resistance.
The review will set out a plan
for encouraging and accelerating the discovery and development of new
generations of antibiotics, and will examine:
-
The development, use and
regulatory environment of antimicrobials, especially antibiotics, and explore
how to make investment in new antibiotics more attractive to pharmaceutical
companies and other funding bodies.
-
The balance between effective
and sustainable incentives for investment, and the need to conserve
antimicrobial drugs so they remain effective for as long as
possible.
-
How governments and other
funders can stimulate investment in new antimicrobials and timeframes and
mechanisms for implementation.
-
Increasing international
cooperation and support for action by the international community, including
much closer working with low and middle income countries on this
issue.
Jim O’Neill will work
independently of government, and will have full freedom to approach the issues
and the evidence as he sees fit. He will work with international experts
covering all aspects of the AMR pipeline and associated economic issues to
identify a range of proposals that can form the basis of a new, strengthened
global effort.
The full scale of the economic
burden of drug resistant infections – and the cost of a failure to take
concerted action to address it – is not yet fully
understood.
The announcement of the review
comes a week after antimicrobial resistance was chosen by the public as the
winner of the £10m Longitude Prize, with a focus on creating a cheap,
accurate and easy-to-use test for bacterial infections that will allow doctors
and nurses to better target antibiotics and prevent over-use.
The Prime Minister, David
Cameron, said:
Resistance to antibiotics is now
a very real and worrying threat, as bacteria mutate to become immune to their
effects.
With some 25,000 people a year
already dying from infections resistant to antibiotic drugs in Europe alone,
this is not some distant threat but something happening right
now.
If we fail to act, we are
looking at an almost unthinkable scenario where antibiotics no longer work and
we are cast back into the dark ages of medicine where treatable infections and
injuries will kill once again.
That simply cannot be allowed to
happened and I want to see a stronger, more coherent global response, with
nations, business and the world of science working together to up our game in
the field of antibiotics.
Following discussions at the G7
last month, I have asked the economist Jim O’Neill to work with a panel
of experts and report back to me and other world leaders on how we can
accelerate the discovery and development of a new generation of
antibiotics.
Professor Dame Sally Davies,
Chief Medical Officer for England, said:
The soaring number of
antibiotic-resistant infections poses such a great threat to society that in 20
years’ time we could be taken back to a 19th century environment where
everyday infections kill us as a result of routine operations.
We have reached a critical point
and must act now on a global scale to slow down antimicrobial resistance. In
Europe, 25,000 people a year already die from infections which are resistant to
our drugs of last resort. The biotech and pharmaceutical industry will be
central to resolving this crisis which will impact on all areas of modern
medicine.
We cannot tackle the problem on
our own and urgently need coordinated international action, which is why I am
delighted to see the Prime Minister taking a global lead by commissioning this
review.
Dr Jeremy Farrar, Director of
the Wellcome Trust said:
Drug-resistant bacteria, viruses
and parasites are driving a global health crisis. It threatens not only our
ability to treat deadly infections, but almost every aspect of modern medicine:
from cancer treatment to Caesarean sections, therapies that save thousands of
lives every day rely on antibiotics that could soon be lost. We are failing to
contain the rise of resistance, and failing to develop new drugs to replace
those that no longer work. We are heading for a post-antibiotic
age.
This is not just a scientific
and medical challenge, but an economic and social one too. I am thus delighted
that an economist of the stature of Jim O’Neill has agreed to investigate
these issues, with an eye on the incentives, regulatory systems and behavioural
changes that will be required to resolve them. The Wellcome Trust is proud to
fund and host Jim O’Neill and his team as they conduct this vital
work.
Dr Jim O’Neill
said:
I am delighted and honoured to
be asked by the Prime Minister to undertake this review. The emergence of
drug-resistant infections and the lack of a sustainable pipeline of
antimicrobial drugs are mounting threats to society, and it’s clear that
international action is needed now if we are to prevent lives being lost
unnecessarily. As someone who has been immersed in how the world may develop,
finding ways to stop this problem is a very exciting
challenge.
Dr Margaret Chan, Director
General of the World Health Organization (WHO) said:
The UK is demonstrating strong
leadership in raising awareness about the global threat posed by antimicrobial
resistance. Forming this Review is a crucial step towards ensuring that the
world has effective medicines to combat infectious diseases. WHO will work
closely with the Review and other key partners on this important
initiative.
The review will present its
initial findings during 2015 with a final report and recommendations to then
follow during 2016. This process will run alongside – and engage closely
with – the WHO’s development of a Global Action Plan on
AMR.
The Resolution on Antimicrobial
Resistance passed at last month’s World Health Assembly in Geneva
recognised the pressing need for the global community to act immediately in the
fight to combat increasing resistance. There is also an increasing drug
resistance problem among infections caused by viruses and
parasites.
Background
Jim O’Neill is an
internationally respected and published economist, and until 2013 was Chairman
of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, having previously been the
organisation’s Head of Economic Research. He is particularly well known
for his work in relation to developing and middle-income economies having
coined the BRIC and MINT acronyms – meaning that he is especially
well-placed to understand the broad range of international interests at play
with this topic. He will begin work on the review following the completion in
the autumn of the work of the City Growth Commission, of which he is currently
chair.
The Wellcome Trust is a global
charitable foundation that spends more than £700 million a year on
advancing human and animal health. It is the second highest-spending charitable
foundation in the world, after the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,
investing principally in biomedical science, the medical humanities and public
engagement.
The Trust is providing funding
for the work of the O’Neill review, and hosting the team at its
Trust’s London headquarters.
Limited staffing costs for the
review will be met by the UK Government, with new research commissioned as part
of the review process funded by the National Institute for Health Research
(NIHR). Full terms of reference for the review will be published in due course,
once finalised by the review’s chair.
The review will operate
independently of the UK Government and draw support from an international
expert advisory panel. Both G7 and non-G7 members will be engaged in the
process, as will the academic community, industry, and multilateral
organisations such as the WHO, Commonwealth and European
Commission.