Bugs resistant to antibiotics ‘will kill more than cancer’
BUGS that are resistant to antibiotics are expected to kill more people than cancer within decades, George Osborne said last night. Without new drugs, common infections will be responsible for ten million deaths a year around the world by 2050, he claimed – more than the eight million a year who die from cancer now.
As well as disastrous consequences for health, the Chancellor warned that a lack of effective antibiotics may have an ‘enormous economic cost’ over the same period, slashing global economic output by 3.5 per cent – or £70trillion.
He highlighted the potentially catastrophic toll as he called for a global effort to develop new antibiotics. In a speech at the International Monetary Fund in Washington DC, he called for countries to offer multi-billion-pound ‘prizes’ for firms that develop new drugs.
Huge cash rewards should also be given to companies that come up with new ways of diagnosing exactly which infection a person has – and which drugs will be most effective, he said.
Widespread over-prescribing weakens drugs’ effectiveness as bacteria become more resistant.
Medical experts have warned of a catastrophic future in which common infections are deadly, as they were before the discovery of penicillin in the Twenties. It could lead to slight scratches or a routine operations becoming fatal.
It is nearly two decades since the last discovery of a new class of antibiotics.
The huge cost of creating them – and their limited use before they become worthless – deters pharmaceutical firms from research.
Sally Davies, the Chief Medical Officer, has warned that the threat from antibiotic resistance is as severe as terrorism.
Mr Osborne said existing drug markets were ‘broken’, adding: ‘Unless we take global action, antimicrobial resistance will become an even greater threat to mankind than cancer currently is.
‘It is not just a health problem, but an economic one, too.
‘The cost of doing nothing, both in terms of lives lost and money wasted, is too great, and the world needs to come together to agree a common approach.
‘My message is that we need the world’s governments and industry leaders to work together in radical new ways.’
Ministers have commissioned the economist Lord O’Neill to review the issue, and his recommendations are expected next month.
Last year, British doctors were warned they faced being struck off if they handed out too many antibiotics. Prescription rates are spiralling, and GPs face being referred to regulators if they continue to dole out antibiotics like sweets.
Doctors have been found prescribing them for coughs, colds and hayfever. In some GP practices, up to 97 per cent of patients who ask for antibiotics get them.
Almost 42million antibiotic prescriptions were issued on the NHS in 2013 – up 14 per cent on 2003.
Professor Colin Garner, of Antibiotic Research UK, said: ‘Effective antibiotics underpin all modern medicine. We are in danger of going back to a pre-antibiotic era unless we quickly find significant funds to find new antibiotics, as well as safeguarding our current ones.’
‘Threat to mankind’