Investors step up pressure on companies over use of antibiotics

Writing in the FT, Andrew Jack covers the announcement that 12 investors have joined the Investor Action on AMR initiative, jointly coordinated by the Access to Medicine Foundation, Farm Animal Investment Risk & Return (Fairr), the UN-Supported Principles for Responsible Investment and the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care.

"A dozen institutional investors with $7tn under management are joining forces to pressure food producers, restaurants, retailers and pharmaceutical companies to cut antibiotic usage and tackle the growing dangers of drug resistance to hundreds of thousands of patients.

Amundi, Aviva Investors, CDC, Legal & General Investment Management and Northern Trust Asset Management are among investors backing Investor Action on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) with commitments to scrutinise food and medicine companies’ use of antibiotics before investing and to engage with businesses in which they already hold stakes to reduce misuse of the drugs."