Resistance isn't futile: Why it's time governments step up to AMR

With the potential of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) taking our modern medicine practices back to the stone age, governments around the world need to face the threat head on.

It’s no secret that antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the biggest threats to modern medicine. Though unlike the multitude of sleepless nights caused by a fear of conditions like cancer and dementia, AMR seems to barely register on the general public’s list of worries.

In the UK in particular, political activity addressing AMR seems to have decreased in the past five years, despite widespread concern from the life sciences industry. It’s probably fair to say that the UK government has been slightly preoccupied since around June 2016, but it’s still worrying just how little attention is being paid to AMR.

A recent report by the Health and Social Care Committee highlighted the lack of visible political leadership in regard to AMR. Indeed, the report states that there have been no inter-ministerial meetings held to discuss AMR by the UK government in the past 15 months.

The statistics surrounding AMR should be enough to spur government into action all over the world. As it stands, AMR infections currently kill around 700,000 people around the world, every year. If this sounds bad now, in the next 30 years, deaths related to AMR are expected to overtake the global toll of both cancer and diabetes, rising to over 10 million a year by 2050.

To exemplify the matter further, a collection of 36 life science organisations have called on the UK government to address the chronic underfunding and shortage of scientists that are working towards new antibiotics.

Not that steps aren’t being taken to tackle AMR. Recently, the UK government announced over £10 million to be used to progress a number of AMR initiatives. Around half of the funding will be used to develop new diagnostic methods targeting ‘super gonorrhoea’. The funding will also be used to find new ways to diagnose AMR and to ensure that antibiotics are being used appropriately. Still, if the addition of a superhero moniker to gonorrhoea doesn’t keep you awake at night, I don’t know what will.

It isn’t just government however. Consider the charity and celebrity-led campaigns which are designed to raise awareness for a multitude of conditions and diseases. AMR has no such backing, a fact which isn’t surprising when diseases such as cancer have such personable and visible effects on patients and their families. Even worse has been the exit of big pharma from the AMR stage, and there are now only six major players involves in developing new antimicrobial treatments.

Hopefully when the government’s updated AMR strategy is released in 2019, we’ll see clarification and actionable ways to tackle this growing threat. Until then, if you come down with a cold during the Christmas holidays, maybe think twice before asking your doctor for that antibiotic.

Happy holidays.