On 17 June, 2016, the Council of the European Union published conclusions on the next steps for the EU to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR) under a One Health approach. The role of the Council is to serve as the voice of the EU member governments to negotiate and adopt EU laws, coordinate member states’ policies, conclude international agreements, develop the EU’s common foreign and security policy and adopt the EU budget together with the Parliament.
In its conclusions to combat AMR, the Council has adopted a One Health approach, which considers the importance of intricate interactions between human, animal, and environmental health in addressing AMR. The conclusions also state the importance of research and development into new antimicrobials, as evidenced by item 16 below, where the Council recognizes the accomplishments of DRIVE-AB in this area:
16. UNDERLINES that in order to stimulate the development of new antimicrobials, alternative therapies and (rapid) diagnostics, EU and global coordination and cooperation on research programmes and incentives are needed and RECOGNISES the work done by the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) project DRIVE-AB (Driving reinvestment in research and development and responsible antibiotic use), the proposals of the Antimicrobial Resistance Review team and the Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance among others.
To be acknowledged by the EU Council is an exceptional and outstanding achievement, and the consortium is very pleased to receive such recognition for its work. The group looks forward to continuing to work with global stakeholders to develop and implement new, feasible reward models to drive investment into antimicrobial research and development.
Please click here to read the full document and list of conclusions.
Please click here to read the press release.