From words to action: Exploring the ecosystem of antimicrobial resistance

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is the ability of microorganisms to evolve to resist antibiotics, leading to infections becoming increasingly untreatable.

AMR already claims as many as 33,000 lives in the EU every year, but this is set to drastically worsen, with AMR poised to become a bigger killer than cancer by 2050.

But despite the looming threat that AMR presents, research and development in this area has been blocked for many years thanks to a combination of an unpredictable market, lack of incentives and high associated costs.

This has led to the creation of a “toxic” cycle which needs to be broken, but the question is how this can be achieved.

In this Special Report, EURACTIV explores the ecosystem of AMR and concrete proposals for how this deadly threat can be tackled.