Virtual Dialogue: Addressing antimicrobial resistance for better cancer care – the important role of R&D

Background

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing public health issue that needs urgent attention in countries around the world. The World Health Organization has stated that AMR is one of the top 10 global public health emergencies we are currently facing. Antimicrobials are a key and indispensable part of cancer treatment. People with cancer are more susceptible to infections due to the lowering of their immune defences.

Access to appropriate treatments for infections are not always a given and is a major problem globally. Most of the new treatments are not available in many parts of the world. In fact, of the 25 new medicines developed between 1999 and 2014, only 12 had registered sales in more than 10 countries. Furthermore, few candidate medicines are in the clinical pipeline (27), fewer still (4) with novel mechanism of action and there are gaps in products addressing multi drug resistant pathogens.