Breakthrough for development of antibacterials

December 1, 2009: As of today, the health ministers of the 27 European Union member states have adopted council conclusions concerning innovative incentives for effective antibiotics.

- This is one of the single most powerful, concerted political takes on antibiotic resistance ever, comments ReAct director, Professor Otto Cars.

Read more in the press release>

Read the Council Conclusions here>

Reporting on the council conclusions for the Financial Times, Andrew Jack cites ReAct's Antibiotic Innovation Study.

Read F.T. article, EU backs innovation in pharmaceutical sector>

Constructive dialogue on the urgent need for new antibiotics

Focusing on the need to develop new pharmaceuticals against infectious diseases;The conference "Innovative Incentives for Effective Antibacterials" took place in Stockholm on 17 September. Conference report now avilable.

Read more about the outcomes from the meeting on the Swedish Presidency conference web site>

Download conference report>

Report on policies and incentives by Elias Mossialos, European Observatory>

ECDC/EMEA Joint Technical Report, "The Bacterial Challenge">

EU-US summit agrees to form transatlantic taskforce on antimicrobial resistance

At the EU-US Summit on the 3^rd of November, it was agreed to establish a transatlantic taskforce on urgent antimicrobial resistance issues.

Read more>

Javier Solana, Fredrik Reinfeldt, Barack Obama and José Manuel Barroso.

(Photo:Gunnar Seijbold/Regeringskansliet)

ReAct launches news service

Resistance in the News is an arbitrary selection of articles with relevance to antibiotic resistance and antibiotic use that have come to our attention lately.

The articles have been published in various internet media and on-line scientific journals.

The list is by no means complete and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the ReAct network.

Resistance in the News 19th Nov 2009 update>

The desperate need for new antibiotics

"We are facing a rapidly spreading pandemic"

TIME Magazine quotes Professor Otto Cars, director of ReAct - Action on Antibiotic Resistance.

Read the article: A Looming Drug Crisis: The Dearth of New Antibiotics

European Antibiotic Awareness Day

...and bacteria totally resistant to antibiotics are spreading across Europe

In connection with the European Antibiotic Awareness Day, 18 Nov 2009, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), presented a worrying study showing that over 20 % of European intensive care doctors have had patients infected with bacteria with that are “totally or almost totally” resistant to antibiotics.

Read the article

The results are similar to those from an earlier pilot study performed by ReAct in 2007, where half of the surveyed ICU physicians had encountered a patient that had died with an infection without any therapy options due to antibiotic resistance.

Read abstract

ReAct regional activities

Fight AMR - Save medicines for our children

Launch of the joint EPN and ReAct "Fight AMR" campaign at the WHA in Geneva in May 2009

Read more about the campaign and EPN>

The Cuenca Declaration
A global call to action to contain antibacterial resistance

Outcomes from the ReAct International seminar in Cuenca in June 2008

Read more about ReAct Latin America>

Newly released ReAct Publications

Memorial book from Cuenca

Restablecer La Salud de Los Ecosistemas Para Contener La Resistencia Bacteriana Restore the Health of the Ecosystems to contain Bacterial Resistance; a memorial book from the workshop and seminar in Cuenca in June 2008.

Download booklet> (pdf 8 MB, spanish)
Read booklet online>

Cure with Care in chinese

An easy-to-read booklet exploring some of the reasons for rapid spread of the problem and ways in which it can be tackled.

Chinese version> (pdf 2 MB)
English version> (pdf 3 MB)