ATMF Report Tackles Global Access to Antibiotics

May 29, 2024

The Access to Medicine Foundation (ATMF) Netherlands, just put out a very important study that talks about some of the biggest problems in the pharmaceutical industry. “How can pharma get the few promising drugs in development to patients battling superbugs?” is the title of the report that looks at the current state of antibiotic development and how these drugs can be made available to people who need them, especially when it comes to Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR).

What is Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)?

AMR happens when microorganisms like bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites change so that they can’t be killed by medicines. This makes it harder to treat common illnesses and raises the risk of disease spreading, getting very sick, or dying. The study stresses the important prediction that AMR could kill 10 million people every year by 2050 and have a big effect on how medicine is done and the amount of poverty around the world.

Examination of Key Pharmaceutical Projects

The Foundation looked closely at five important late-stage drug development projects that were aimed at serious pathogens that are not easily killed with medicine. Well-known companies like GSK, F2G, Innovica, Venatorx, and Pfizer are working on these projects, which include new medicines. The study rates these projects on how innovative they are in fighting hard pathogens and how easy and cheap they might be to get, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Findings on Global Access and Stewardship

The sharp results show that there aren’t any clear plans for registering the drugs in LMICs—only five of the 113 countries showed clear intentions. Also, the study shows that there was a big mistake in the arrangements for affordability and stewardship that were needed to make sure that these new therapies are available and used wisely to stop the spread of resistance even more.

The Role of Paediatric Trials and Partnerships

One encouraging thing that was found is that children were included in the studies, which suggests that the treatments could be used in more places in the future. In addition, the study praises partnerships like the Global Antibiotical Research and Development Partnership, which helps smaller businesses have a bigger effect by working together with bigger drug companies. These relationships are very important for moving access plans forward, along with other strategies like the Stewardship and Access Plan (SAP).

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