What's dampening the GLOBAL AMR BATTLE?

Although there have been significant national and worldwide efforts to provide financial incentives for antibiotic research and development, it is still unclear how best to fortify the existing programmes to further spur antibiotic innovation. The incentive programmes in place now are a crucial first step in enhancing the economic viability of antibiotic development. However, it seems like there isn't enough global coordination among all the programmes, which could lead to duplication of effort, funding gaps in the value chain, and the failure to include crucial AMR objectives. Let's dig deeper.

- Mansi Jamsudkar

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing global concern, with the situation worsening year by year. The speed of developing resistance is at par or, in fact, more than the speed of novel antibiotic development. Most of the big pharmaceutical companies have left antibiotic research due to the high risk of failure and poor return on investment. Antibiotic research is mostly carried out by academic institutes and small- and medium-sized enterprises. However, they lack sufficient funds to take the compounds from early and mid-stage to clinical trials and market.

Insufficient funding remains a major challenge in advancing research on AMR, both in India and globally. The funding landscape for AMR research is characterised by a lack of sustained investment and inadequate financial support from both the public and private sectors. This lack of resources significantly hampers the development of new antibiotics, diagnostic tools, and treatment approaches. In a scenario where countries fail to contain drug resistance, we could face a staggering $1.7 trillion annual reduction in global economic output by 2050, amounting to a 0.88 per cent decrease in GDP. This would not only escalate hospital treatment costs but also adversely affect tourism and domestic hospitality.

An annual investment of $63 billion spent improving access to, and developing new antimicrobials, could generate more than $1.7 trillion in benefits a year by 2050. While $63 billion may sound like a lot of money-in reality, it's less than the world spends on cosmetic surgery, less than video gamers spend on in-game purchases, each year-and it's about an eighth of what the world spends on takeout coffee. These findings are from the recent report from Center for Global Development, based at Washington DC and London, a think tank that uses economic research to reduce global poverty and inequality.