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The decline in antibiotic R&D is a long-term phenomenon, and will take time to reverse.
However it demands urgent action and will require commitment from all stakeholders.
2011 will be a key year for reversing this decline. In November, the European
Commission will launch a new resistance strategy as a response to the Council
Conclusions reached under the Swedish Presidency in July-December 2009.
Reflecting the extensive preparatory work carried out by Sweden, the detailed
Conclusions included calls for:
Member States and Commission to: “Explore ways to promote further public-
private partnerships between industry, academia, non-profit organizations and
the healthcare system to facilitate research into new antibiotics, strategies for
use of currently available antibiotics and diagnostic methods;”
The Commission has a key role to play in a healthcare problem which is, by definition,
supra-national. The industry will provide the Commission with its full support in
developing the concrete proposals called for by the Council; however we note that this
issue is urgent, underlining the need for an ambitious strategy document and further
collaboration with the US. We ask the Parliament to give its support to this effort by
promoting further discussion of the policy options in the run-up to the launch of the
strategy.
1 The EU and US agree “To establish a transatlantic task force on urgent antimicrobial resistance
issues focused on appropriate therapeutic use of antimicrobial drugs in the medical and
veterinary communities, prevention of both healthcare- and community-associated drug-
resistant infections, and strategies for improving the pipeline of new antimicrobial drugs, which
could be better addressed by intensified cooperation between us.”