EB154 individual statement on antimicrobial resistance (AMR)

On 26 January, IFPMA delivered a statement on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) at the WHO 154th Executive Board in Geneva, Switzerland. 

We are broadly supportive of the three strategic priorities proposed in the report but strongly encourage their expansion to include the role of all stakeholders.

The important role of the private sector in developing new medicines and in supporting sustainable and equitable access should be recognized. While the Executive Board (EB) report acknowledges the need for specific solutions to tackle the pipeline and access crises, including working with industry to achieve this, it could better acknowledge the broken market of antibiotic research and development (R&D) as a core driver of the thinning of the clinical pipeline, uneven availability of antibiotics, and gaps in global access as investment and activity to support costly late-stage development continue to dry up.

The report should also acknowledge the need for well-studied and tested incentive solutions that can bring back investment into antibiotic R&D, in support of the proposed strategic objectives. We also call on Member States to consider, together with other stakeholders, ambitious and time-bound targets to accelerate global progress in the context of the upcoming High-level Meeting (HLM) on AMR, building on previous global commitments.