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What steps are companies taking to help curb AMR by manufacturing responsibly?
22 August 2023
Date
06 June 2024
Combating superbugs: How Indian drugmakers can address the global shortfall in antibiotic development
In an article for the Hindu Businessline, Jyothi Datta covers the Access to Medicine Foundation’s recent report on antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which looks at five different antimicrobial projects in the research and development pipeline and examines pharma companies’ plans for making these medicines accessible in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
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The article gives an overview of the growing concern that AMR poses to global health, highlighting India’s role in curbing the issue as one of the largest producers of pharmaceutical products.
It then cites a key finding from the report: that among 113 LMICs analysed, concrete commitments to register the five critical new antimicrobial medicines in scope of the report were only identified in a handful of countries (China, India, Mexico, South Africa, and Thailand). It is currently unclear whether any of the other 108 LMICs will have access to these antimicrobial products upon initial approval.
The article quotes Marijn Verhoef, Director of Operations and Research at the Foundation, who urges companies to file registrations in more LMICs and include countries with “particularly high burdens of disease and disproportionately affected populations, such as children, women and immuno-suppressed patients.”
“We have a small, but effective, arsenal in the race to combat drug resistance,” the article quotes Jayasree K. Iyer, CEO of the Foundation. “The difference between us winning or losing this race depends on how companies enable access to people living on the frontlines of drug resistance.”
NOW ONLINE