VHIR: The Infectious Diseases group has been awarded for a project that seeks new strategies to treat antimicrobial resistant infections

The Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology (SEIMC) has awarded one of the 2015 Communication Prize for the project entitled “Eficacia de colistimetato de sodio cargado en nanopartículas lipídicas (CMS-NLC) contra P. aeruginosa multiresistentes (MR-PA)”, presented by Jana Basas from the Infectious Disease Group at Vall d’Hebron Institute of Research (VHIR) led by Dr. Benito Almirante. The study was done in collaboration with Universidad del País Vasco (UPV/EHU), Fundació d'Investigació Sanitària de les Illes Balears Ramón Llull (FISIB) and CSIC. The project is part of a novel Research Area based on “Nanoantimicrobials for Antimicrobial Resistance Infections” led by Dr. Joan Gavaldà.

Dr. Gavaldà comments “Access to effective antibiotics is essential in all health systems. Their use has reduced childhood mortality and increased life expectancy, and they are crucial for invasive surgery and treatments such as cancer chemotherapy and solid organ transplantation. Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is a concept rather than a disease in itself and despite its dramatic rising, is not given the same attention as acute infectious threats like SARS, Pandemic flu or Ebola, nor the same attention as the three major infectious diseases HIV, Tuberculosis and malaria.

AMR is a serious global menace, affecting global economical, social and public health. The most recent World Economic Forum Global Risks reports have listed AMR as one of the greatest societal risks threats to human health. AMR is not only costly in terms of human suffering but also in monetary terms. AMR currently claim at least 50,000 lives each year across Europe and the US alone; at the estimated cost of more than 1.5 billion EUR or 35$ billion annually. In addition to a greater resistance to existing agents, there is a lack of new antibiotics in development.

Recently, Dame Sally Davies (Director England NHS) said: “The spread of AMR bacteria could dramatically set back modern medicine to the dark age of the pre-antibiotic era; achievements in modern medicine, such as decrease in the insecurity of childbirth, caesarean sections, treatment of preterm babies, major or even dirty minor surgery, organ transplantation and cancer chemotherapy, which we today take for granted, would not be possible without access to effective treatment for bacterial infections. Within just a few years, we might be faced with dire setbacks, medically, socially, and economically, unless real global coordinated actions are immediately taken”. Dr. Margaret Chan (WHO’s Director-General) and Dr. Tom Frieden (CDC Director) agreed with this statements and joined the collective concern regarding this issue.

To manage the crisis of antibiotic resistance, in recent years, various World key Organizations and Political Administrations, besides the World Economic Forum, have made AMR the focus of highly visible reports and actions. Mainly, recognizes the global nature of the challenge posed by AMR and calls for local and international leadership and coordinated actions to tackle the growing threat of AMR. Recently, May 2015, WHO has developed a "Global Action Plan for Antimicrobial Resistance" with different areas of action to combat Antimicrobial Resistance. Last week, world leaders meeting at the G-7 expressed strong support for the WHO’s "Global Action Plan for Antimicrobial Resistance"

It is in that context that Dr. Joan Gavaldà from VHIR states that “there’s a crucial need for funding for research relevant to developing new antibiotics and innovation alternatives for treating AMR infections, as well as increasing economic incentives for developing urgently needed antibiotics and to preserve antibiotic effectiveness. New antimicrobials or innovation-based strategies, like ours, are urgently needed in order to preserve medicine as we know it”.