Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing threat that jeopardizes decades of progress in the fight against bacterial infections. This phenomenon occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites change over time and no longer respond to medicines. Consequently, antibiotics become less effective in treating infections, making them more difficult to manage and increasing the risk of severe illness and death.

Over the years, the inappropriate use of antibiotics and antimicrobials in humans, animals, and plants, as well as the lack of appropriate patient adherence, have accelerated the threat of antimicrobial resistance worldwide. Consequently, an increasing number of infections have become difficult to manage, with a dramatic impact on health and the economy. Once resistance emerges, it can spread to new environments and countries, facilitated not only by inappropriate use, but also by a lack of infection control programs.

While bacteria continually adapt and evolve, our arsenal of antibiotics is rapidly depleting, with limited investments in finding new ones. In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) identified 32 antibiotics in clinical development to address the list of priority pathogens, of which only six were classified as innovative.

The lack of new antibiotics also stems from the lengthy approval process that pharmaceutical companies must undergo for these new medications, coupled with conditions that aren’t consistently advantageous or motivating, and with prices of antibiotics remaining stagnant. This stands in stark contrast to other models, for instance the one applied to orphan drugs, i.e. those drugs used for diagnosis, prevention and treatment of rare diseases. This model incentivizes new drug development and might be the only effective solution to tackle the issue of antibiotic resistance.

In this context, the European Parliament has begun discussing the possibility of an AMR designation. While not technically classified as orphan drugs, such a designation for new antibiotics would be crucial in underlining the importance of new products and stressing the necessity for their prudent use, given their potential to contribute to resistance emergence.

The issue of antimicrobial resistance was also the main focus at the 34th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID), which was held in Barcelona from 27th to 30th April.

This yearly congress continues to be a crucial meeting point for scientific experts and medical professionals from around the world, offering the opportunity to share knowledge, ideas, and research in the field of clinical microbiology and infectious diseases.

Antibiotic resistance knows no geographical boundaries and is a global threat to public health. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to adopt a collaborative, coordinated international approach to tackle the issue, developing concrete policies and strategies to combat this silent pandemic.

We’d like to remind you that Menarini has launched the Infectioninfocus.com  portal to raise public awareness about the importance of the correct and appropriate use of antibiotics to reduce and prevent the development of antimicrobial resistance and its impact, but also to highlight the value of the antibiotics and their contribution to the modern medical progress and their importance to all humankind. In its mission and development Infectioninfocus.com has been endorsed by the Italian Antibiotic–Antiviral–Antifungal Society (SITA)

Visit also our Blog and YouTube channel to learn more about the antimicrobial resistance (AMR).