- The misuse and intensive use of antimicrobials such as antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals and antiparasitics has caused pathogens to become more resistant.
- In 2019, the global burden associated with drug-resistant infections was estimated at 4.95 million deaths.
- From November 18 to 24, World Antimicrobial Awareness Week is commemorated.
The world remains in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, but it does not mean that it is the only one that represents a danger. In fact, there is another quite serious one that has not been given enough attention. It’s about the antimicrobial resistance and represents one of the greatest threats to global health, food security and development. At present it already generates a strong impact but the forecast for the future is not encouraging.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), this problem is increasing to dangerous levels. It is partly due to the misuse and intensive use of antimicrobials such as antibioticsantivirals, antifungals and antiparasitics, which has prompted pathogens to become resistant to them, reducing their effectiveness.
Unfavorable forecasts for the future
In the medical area, the magnitude and threat it represents is alarming. According to a recently published study in The Lancet, in 2019 the global burden associated with drug-resistant infections was estimated at 4.95 million deaths, of which antimicrobial resistance was the direct cause of at least 1.27 million. This number will increase unless measures are taken to combat it. Covid-19 infection has further fueled this problem and, if this trend continues, mortality may increase to 10 million per year by 2050.
In this regard, Dr. Samuel Ponce de León, Coordinator of the UNAM University Antimicrobial Resistance Control Planpoints out that the practices for the use of antibiotics in Mexico are incorrect.
“For example, viral respiratory tract infections resolve spontaneously in 95% of cases within a few days. But, in 90% of these infections, antibiotics are administered, which are not useful for these infections. […] situation that has increased in the face of SARS CoV-2 infection”.
He also noted that it is extraordinarily common for physicians prescribe antibiotics in cases of Covid-19thinking that this is how the picture that is viral can be solved.
“So, if we had a problem of overuse of antibiotics at the end of 2019, now tens of millions of new patients must be added who come to the clinic for a SARS-CoV-2 infection and receive an antibiotic. This adds another weight to the balance of misuse of antibiotics, and it is certainly going to have an impact in the future.”
RAM Action Fund: International collaboration to defeat antimicrobial resistance
Cristóbal Thompson, Executive Director of the Mexican Association of Pharmaceutical Research Industries (AMIIF), affirms that this situation makes evident the urgency of collective efforts to implement clear solutions that allow the discovery and support the launch to the market of new tools that address pathogens. most important to major public health agencies.
Likewise, it ensures that the innovative biopharmaceutical industry, in its commitment to the health of the population, is very active in the fight against antimicrobial resistance and has put its maximum effort with the aim of proposing a set of solutions that guarantee new and more effective antibiotics to treat resistant infections.
“At a global level, the innovation industry is working to generate new antibiotics that offer solutions to the problem of antimicrobial resistance. With the support of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA), 24 pharmaceutical companies have formed the AMR Action Fund (Fund for Action against Antimicrobial Resistance), which will invest more than one billion dollars with one objective: to put two and four new antibiotics available to patients by 2030”.
The concept of the AMR Action Fund was developed in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), the European Investment Bank and the Wellcome Trust and since its creation in July 2020, the AMR Action Fund has been dedicated to raise funds to support small biotech companies seeking to develop new antibiotics targeting the WHO list of twelve priority pathogens. The investments, guided by an independent expert panel, will target innovative treatments that have distinctive utility and reduce patient mortality, and will be sustained through all stages of clinical development.
Likewise, the fund has created a platform through which the pharmaceutical industry can make its experience available to companies that receive financing, providing technical support and contributing to the successful development of new antibiotics.
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