Pilot project to see data transparency on antimicrobial resistance

Steps are being taken by pharma to openly share data on changes to the susceptibility of pathogens to antibiotics around the world as part of a pilot project to tackle the growing problem of drug-resistant infections.

The pilot project, worth £70k and funded by the Wellcome trust, involves the aggregation of ‘antibiotic surveillance data’. Findings from the project will be delivered by the Open Data Institute (ODI) in a workshop ‘Making open antimicrobial resistance (AMR) data happen’ to be held on Tuesday 27 March 2018.

This workshop will look at the collected data and explore the current landscape of industry-led antibiotic surveillance. It will investigate potential ways to promote transparency, innovation and best use of this data to take action against AMR.

A number of major pharmaceutical companies have already committed to sharing surveillance data to make it accessible to public health bodies and healthcare professionals, through the ‘Davos Declaration’ on combating AMR — now hosted by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations (IFPMA) and the United Nations Global Assembly Declaration on AMR.

“Antimicrobial resistance is incredibly complex and driven by many factors — and working together across all sectors is absolutely critical to understand and control it,” explained chief medical officer, Professor Dame Sally Davies, who supports the project. “But information holds the key, so it is really pleasing to see this initiative to share information more effectively. There is an incredible amount of new and improved data being generated and this project can bring real value in making the most of existing information. Now is the time to harness that power”.

“We are very grateful to Wellcome Trust etc. who have agreed to fund a 90-day phase one project. Our focus in this first phase will be to gather all current antibiotic surveillance data in humans and explore how we can make it openly available,” added ODI’s commercial director, David Beardmore. “The ideal is to achieve a consistent framework for data to be generated and shared, with common standards and methodologies that will enable data from different programmes to be amalgamated and studied. It is hoped that by opening up this surveillance data we can ultimately further understanding of antimicrobial resistance, inform appropriate antibiotic use and help tackle the serious threat of drug resistant infections.”

Dr Tim Jinks, Wellcome’s head of the Drug-Resistant Infections commented: “Addressing this urgent global health problem requires collective action across government, industry and civil society. We need to work together to get new treatments, but also to ensure existing medicines are used appropriately, effectively and are available to all who need them. Understanding of the spread of resistance is vital to both. This will be best achieved if information is shared and widely available.”