AMR Industry Alliance Launches 2024 Equitable and Responsible Access Roadmap
The AMR Industry Alliance released its Equitable & Responsible Access Roadmap highlighting key barriers to diagnostics and antimicrobial access — and outlining solutions to tackle the barriers of regulatory issues, demand forecasting, and procurement challenges.
The Equitable & Responsible Access Roadmap identifies the following key barriers to diagnostic access
- Diagnostics Infrastructure: Inadequate health system infrastructure hinders the introduction and appropriate use of diagnostics technology.
- Recognition of the Value of Diagnostic Technology: In many health systems, diagnostics technology is available but not optimally utilized. In places where the value of testing isn’t recognized, it is difficult for the private sector to invest further into the introduction of new technology.
- Antibiotic Regulatory Issues: Registration processes in many countries are inefficient. Limited resources for registration and differing requirements across countries limit where companies seek approval for antibiotics.
- Forecasting and Surveillance: Without accurate data on infectious disease trends and resistance rates, decisions about new registrations and manufacturing volume are difficult, creating barriers to the access of antimicrobials.
- Antibiotic procurement challenges: Procurement policies can drive the prices of antibiotics down to the point where the price of any drug is too low to allow for its continued manufacturing and supply to the market.
Without timely access to appropriate antimicrobials and diagnostics, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) spreads, medical costs rise, and patients suffer. To mitigate the barriers to access, a multi-stakeholder approach is required where governments, the private sector, multilateral organizations, healthcare professionals, and civil society work together. The AMR Industry Alliance has developed this roadmap as a starting point for impactful engagement with other stakeholders committed to the fight against AMR.
