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The British government will urge the pharmaceutical industry to develop drugs to counteract antibiotic resistance, the Health Secretary warned that the world was about to live a new reality in which "a simple pasture could be deadly".
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, a plan to "contain and control" antimicrobial resistance (AMR) by 2040, Health Secretary Matt Hanbad described the scourge as a "global health emergency" that could cost 10 million lives in 2050, when antibiotics became increasingly ineffective. A routine operation, such as a hip operation or caesarean section, could become too dangerous and parents would know that there is no treatment for a child's finger infection, he warned.
The plan includes what the government has described as a "world first" goal to reduce the number of resistant infections, as well as a goal of reducing the use of drugs. antibiotics in humans by 15%. The Ministry of Health and Social Affairs has stated that drug companies are currently paid according to volumes sold, "which means that companies are encouraged to sell as many antibiotics as possible at the same time as the government. tries to reduce the use of antibiotics ".
He added, "Low returns on development investment mean that the industry is not innovating enough and, as a result, very few new drugs currently under development are targeted at priority infections."
To address this "global market failure," the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, which badesses the cost-effectiveness of drugs, and NHS England would explore ways to develop a new payment model. The pharmaceutical companies would be paid for drugs based on their value to the National Health Service, rather than by the sheer quantity of antibiotics sold. "This will encourage companies to invest in the development of drugs that will treat highly resistant infections," he said.
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Mike Thompson, President of the British Pharmaceutical Industries Association, welcomed this decision: "We have been working closely with the government for two years and the pharmaceutical companies are ready to wait to test a new one. model of antibiotic management. R & D in 2019. "
The United Kingdom has demonstrated international leadership in "raising the profile of this global health threat" and has now reinforced its commitment "to finding solutions to the problems that have so long hampered the development of new medicines", a- he added.
Jim O'Neill, the former chief economist of Goldman Sachs who had led a government study on AMR in 2016, wrote last year that he was "shocked by the words without end of the pharmaceutical industry about their collective belief in the need to fight. AMR, but the lack of concrete initiatives, and more importantly, money, they are ready to subscribe.
On Thursday, he said he was "delighted to see the government's ambition to test a new model for antibiotics, and I would like to see pharmaceutical companies take up the challenge. radical change in the use of diagnostics to reduce unnecessary use. "
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