The Antimicrobial Resistance Benchmark – the methodology for which is outlined here – was developed as an independent and public tool for measuring how pharmaceutical companies are responding to antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
Drug resistance and antibiotic development have been topics of debate at the WEF for the past few years.
In 2015, Nobel Prize-winning chemist Venki Ramakrishnan told political and industrial leaders that Governments should do more to support antibiotic development.
He argued that drug industry reliance on profits to fund R&D is a “terrible business model” when it comes to developing antibiotics.
At the event the following year, 85 drug companies and industry associations signed a declaration to help combat the spread of antimicrobial resistance.
The agreement called for “Governments to commit funding and support the development and implementation of transformational commercial models that enhance conservation of new and existing antibiotics, while improving financial and access-related predictability for both industry and health systems."
The idea was to decouple the R&D investment required for development of antibiotics from revenue generation in order to encourage drug companies to create such products.
Benchmark
The new benchmark will measure what pharmaceutical companies are doing to both develop antibiotics and combat the spread of drug resistance.
According to Access to Medicines, “The first-ever Antimicrobial Resistance Benchmark will map the actions of 30 pharmaceutical companies across three research areas: Research & Development, Manufacturing and Production, Access & Stewardship.
“The Benchmark will show where the pharmaceutical industry is taking action, which companies are leading, and where faster progress is needed.”