[e-drug] First independent framework for assessing pharmaceutical company AMR action

E-DRUG: First independent framework for assessing pharmaceutical company AMR action
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Just published: the first independent framework for
assessing pharmaceutical company action in AMR.

Download the methodology for the Antimicrobial Resistance Benchmark 2018
here
<https://accesstomedicinefoundation.org/news-releases/new-antimicrobial-resistance-benchmark-methodology/&gt;

Dear E-drug colleagues,

I'm pleased to inform you that we recently published the Methodology for
the first Antimicrobial Resistance Benchmark.
It is now online at
https://accesstomedicinefoundation.org/
You can download the full report here: *
https://accesstomedicinefoundation.org/news-releases/new-antimicrobial-resistance-benchmark-methodology/

The Antimicrobial Resistance Benchmark will analyse pharmaceutical company
action to limit antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The Benchmark assesses a
cross-section of pharmaceutical companies, including large research-based
pharmaceutical companies, generic medicine manufacturers and
biopharmaceutical companies with priority R&D projects. It looks at their
efforts to develop antimicrobial medicines and vaccines, manage the
environmental risks involved in antibiotic manufacturing, and to balance
the need for both access to and stewardship of antimicrobial medicines.

The aim of the Benchmark is to provide both an incentive and a guide for
pharmaceutical companies to do more to curb AMR.

The first Benchmark report will be published early next year.

Here, I've included a high-level summary of the Methodology Report. We
welcome your thoughts and any feedback you may have about our methodology.

SCOPE OF THE AMR BENCHMARK

30 companies: The 2018 AMR Benchmark will measure 30 companies from
three different categories: large research-based pharmaceutical companies,
generic medicine manufacturers and biopharmaceutical companies with
priority R&D projects.

Geographic scope: The geographic scope is two-fold. For metrics that
capture efforts to improve appropriate access to antimicrobial medicines,
106 low- and middle-income countries are in scope. For other measurement
areas, the scope is global.

Disease scope: The disease scope is deliberately broad; all infectious
diseases are in scope for analysis. In the evaluation of antimicrobial R&D,
the Benchmark will assess how companies are targeting pathogens identified
by WHO and the CDC as R&D priorities.

MEASUREMENT AREAS

Research & Development: The Benchmark will capture companies' R&D
activities targeting infectious diseases. It will map R&D and reward
efforts to target pathogens whose distribution and drug resistance makes
them a priority target for R&D. It will also evaluate whether companies
have plans to ensure the accessibility and stewardship of new products.

Manufacturing & Production: The Benchmark will compare company
strategies for limiting the impact of antibiotic manufacturing on
resistance. It will assess how companies take antibiotic discharge into
account in their manufacturing and environmental risk-management
strategies. It will also ask how companies maintain the quality of their
antibiotics.

Appropriate Access & Stewardship: The Benchmark will assess companies'
access strategies for antimicrobial medicines in low- and middle-income
countries, alongside their global stewardship strategies for antibiotics.

WHO WE ARE

The Antimicrobial Resistance Benchmark is an initiative of the Access to
Medicine Foundation. It is funded by UK AID and the Dutch Ministry of
Health, Welfare and Sports.

The Access to Medicine Foundation is a non-profit organisation. It aims to
advance access to medicine in low- and middle-income countries by
stimulating and guiding the pharmaceutical industry to play a greater role
in improving access to medicine and vaccines. For ten years, the Foundation
has been building consensus on the role for the pharmaceutical industry in
improving access to medicine and vaccines. It published its first benchmark
of industry activity in this area in 2008, in the first Access to Medicine
Index. In 2017, it published the first Access to Vaccines Index and will
shortly publish the first Antimicrobial Resistance Benchmark.

We plan to publish the first AMR Benchmark in early 2018!

Our hashtag is #AMRBenchmark and our handle @AtMIndex.

Marijn Verhoef
Researcher
Access to Medicine Foundation
Naritaweg 227-A, 1043 CB, Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Marijn Verhoef <mverhoef@accesstomedicinefoundation.org>