Bionow highlighting crucial health issue
THE region is playing host to a major science event next week where the critical issue of antibiotic resistance will be under the microscope.
North West business leaders attending the event at Alderley Park in Cheshire will hear calls for better technology-based diagnostics to stop unnecessary use of antibiotics and tackle superbugs.
Lord O’Neill, chair of the UK government’s Review of Antimicrobial Resistance, will give the keynote address at Bioinfect on November 10th.
His review team has just published its fourth paper on how to combat Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), which currently claims 25,000 lives a year in the EU alone and is ranked only after climate change and global terrorism is in terms of the threat it poses to public health.
The O’Neill Review has already warned drug resistant infections will kill an extra 10 million people a year worldwide – more than currently die from cancer – by 2050 unless action is taken.
Lord O’Neill says the world needs a “step change” in the way that technology is incorporated into the decision-making process around antibiotic use – whether that be in the home, the pharmacy, a doctor’s surgery or hospital.
His latest report features examples of the scale of the mis-prescribing problem, citing the US as typical of a modern health system. Looking at adult patients visiting the doctor to treat respiratory problems, one study found that more than two-thirds of courses of antibiotics were likely to have been inappropriately prescribed for conditions that were not infections at all, or infections caused by viruses – for which an antibiotic would do nothing.
The UK Review on Antimicrobial Resistance was established by the Prime Minister in 2014. The head of the Review, Hala Audi, is also taking part in Bioinfect.
Geoff Davison, chief executive of the North West industry group Bionow, which has organised the conference, said: “We very much welcome the presence of Lord O’Neill and his team at Bioinfect. The latest report demonstrates why healthcare systems are not embracing the use of rapid diagnostics that exist today and why investment in new and better ones is lagging. The review team is presenting a compelling case for governments and healthcare systems to support innovative rapid diagnostics.”
Neil Murray, chief executive of Liverpool and Cheshire-based drug discovery company Redx Pharma, who is also speaking at Bioinfect, added: “The diminishing effectiveness of antibiotics threatens to take us all back to the dark ages, where a simple infection could prove deadly. BioInfect has an important role to play in helping share knowledge, foster collaboration and inspire the level of innovation required to tackle this multi-faceted problem.”
