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Independent review on anti-microbial resistance - regulation/innovation interactions and the development of antimicrobial drugs and diagnostics for human and animal diseases

Scannell, J   Bruce, A

December 2014

Report to ESRC for the Oâ€™Neill Commission on Antimicrobial Resistance

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Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) means that illnesses and operations now considered to be minor could become life-threatening - it is already estimated that a child dies every five minutes due to antibiotic resistance. The review sets out proposals to overhaul the way antibiotics are developed over the next ten years, as currently available drugs are losing their effectiveness against resistant bacteria.

The report published 14 May-15 considers how changes in regulation can inhibit or encourage the development of antimicrobrial drugs, and review different incentive strategies.

The development of new drugs is only part of the solution. Resistance is a natural phenomenon, and when new drugs are created it will continue to increase. There is a need to understand how antibiotics are used ‘on the ground’, and social science research is central to increase our understanding in this area â€“ issues such as how health services can adapt to the pressures posed by AMR, regulation around livestock production and how it affects antimicrobial development, public perceptions of how antibiotics work and how this plays out in GP surgeries.