Leading companies in the pharmaceutical industry have joined together in an unprecedented move to find a cure for superbugs - infections that are resistant to treatment - and are calling on governments to work along with them, according to a news release.
A total of 85 leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology, generics and diagnostics companies signed the "Declaration by the Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology and Diagnostics Industries on Combating Antimicrobial Resistance" at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The joint declaration launched Thursday emphasizes the need for collaboration among industry and governments to create new antibiotics that can fight against anti-microbial resistance.
"The increase in bacterial resistance to antibiotics has been dramatic, and combating this growth is a top priority for global policy and public health," the document says.
Although there have been efforts to create new antibiotics, with billions of dollars of funds invested in the research by public and private entities in the last two decades, no new drugs have been approved. In fact, no new class of antibiotics that can fight infections of Gram-negative bacteria has been approved in more than 40 years, the declaration explained.
The "Review on Antimicrobial Resistance," an analysis commissioned by the U.K. government, warns that if no intervention is made, superbugs can kill 10 million people every year by 2050. The analysis also said that anti-microbial resistance, if not addressed, can cut global economic output by $100 trillion by that same year.
The Review outlined the costs and investments needed for the challenge, which the joint declaration acknowledges.
"We call on governments to commit to allocating the funds needed to create a sustainable and predictable market for these technologies while also implementing the measures needed to safeguard the effectiveness of antibiotics," the declaration reads.
Dr. Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organization, agreed that a collaboration is needed to address the problem of anti-microbial resistance.
"WHO and its Member States have called for the development of new antimicrobial medicines and affordable access to them, in line with the global action plan on antimicrobial resistance. This Declaration affirms that the challenges of AMR can be addressed only through collaboration and global collective action," Chan said in the press release.
