New Alliance to Drive and Measure Industry Progress to Curb Antimicrobial Resistance

In a press release published last week, the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA) announced the establishment of the Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Industry Alliance.

The announcement was made by IFPMA’s Director-General Tomas Cueni, during the B20 Health Conference in Berlin. The Alliance’s role is to bring together stakeholders from the industry in order to hinder the development of antimicrobial resistance.

Thomas Cueni, stated “[…] the focus is on the role global business can play in finding sustainable solutions to curb antimicrobial resistance. The AMR Industry Alliance will create a broad industry momentum and facilitate the collaboration between the public and private sectors. Only by working together can we strive for real change”.

During the same conference, the B20 Health Initiative took place. The meeting gathered healthcare industry leaders from the G20 nations. The B20 Health Initiative published its final policy paper, which included five health recommendations to be presented to G20 health ministers. Combatting antimicrobial resistance was the second item on the list.

On Saturday, 20th of May, health ministers of the G20 leading economies held a meeting during which they agreed to work together to tackle issues such as a growing resistance to antibiotics and to start implementing national action plans by the end of 2018.

Hermann Groehe, Germany’s health minister, said in an interview: “There must be no return to the pre-penicillin era, […] It would be a dramatic development if such an important weapon against dangerous pathogens were taken from us … (It would mean) that we could lose a weapon against even minor infectious diseases”.