UK Ministers 'must stop unnecessary use of antibiotics'

A wide-raging report published today by the UK House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee report on Antimicrobial Resistance has welcomed  Prime Minister David Cameron’s decision to appoint Jim O’Neill, a former Goldman Sachs chief economist, to lead a team to spur the development of new drugs to prevent antibiotic resistance.

The government’s announcement of a review of the economics of antimicrobial research is a welcome step in addressing one aspect of antimicrobial resistance, it states. However, current practice across both health and veterinary services is failing to prevent the inappropriate prescription of antibiotics. The government needs to set clear responsibilities at all levels of the National Health Service and veterinary medicine to achieve better stewardship of the antimicrobial drugs vital in modern medicine, the Science and Technology Committee has warned.

Member of Parliament Andrew Miller, chairman of the Science and Technology Committee, stated: "Antibiotic resistance cannot be entirely prevented, but it is a problem made worse by inappropriate use and poor stewardship of antibiotics in health care and farming. We heard concerns, for instance, that antibiotics are often prescribed by GPs simply to achieve a placebo effect or placate patients with distressing symptoms. In farming meanwhile, we suspect that antibiotics may be routinely used on healthy animals.”