Talent loss and market issues are a major threat to addressing global AMR crisis

Growing resistance to antibiotics has rapidly become one of the world's most important global health threats.

The latest research estimates that almost 40 million lives are at risk over the next 25 years if we fail to act. In response, the United Nations convened a pivotal High-Level Meeting in September - its first on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) since 2016 - dedicated to addressing AMR's growing threat.

Shrinking antimicrobial R&D workforce

Following the first high-level meeting, the AMR Industry Alliance was formed. Since then, there has been much progress to celebrate across key areas such as stewardship, research and development (R&D), as well as working towards standards that support the responsible manufacture of antibiotics.

However, a lingering concern remains: the shrinking pool of antimicrobial research and development professionals. This loss of talent threatens our already very fragile pipeline for new antibiotics. While significant strides have been made in other aspects of AMR, this important vulnerability has gone overlooked for too long.

Antimicrobial market investment challenges

The market for antimicrobials faces unique challenges. To mitigate AMR, new antimicrobials are needed. Moreover, they should only be used when older ones don't work: that tends to limit sales volume. Consequently, new antimicrobials often don't attract investment. This makes it difficult for companies, large and small, to create the new drugs we desperately need to combat rising AMR.

Even when they succeed with R&D, many antibiotic biotech companies don't offer long-term careers as they still go bankrupt or get bought out. It's no surprise, then, that the top talent in the field are leaving for other disease areas: our research estimates there are only 3,000 AMR researchers compared to more than 46,000 for cancer, for example. Fortunately, many of the researchers remaining in AMR are committed and engaged, and countries are beginning to address the market problem.

A new way forward

A broken market requires novel solutions. For example, the UK launched an innovative subscription-based model that delinks revenue from sales volume, which helps to support companies to continue their antimicrobial research and development efforts. Progress, albeit piecemeal, was made at the High-level Meeting as world leaders committed to advancing solutions to address the shortage of AMR researchers in their political declaration.

Both public and private sectors must invest to support researchers and stay ahead of resistant bacteria by meeting the demand for new antimicrobials. Attracting and retaining top scientific talent is essential for long-term progress.

James Anderson is Chair, AMR Industry Alliance. This article was published as part of a special AMR and Infectious Diseases Campaign from Media Planet, launched in print with The Guardian. View the article here.

Author

• James Anderson Executive Director, Global Health [email protected]

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