Unlocking the potential of SMEs is key to combating AMR

Ian Staples, founder and chief executive of British biotechnology company Matoke Holdings, provides this week's Expert View piece, looking at the UK government's role in supporting  small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) to combat the growing threat from antimicrobial resistance.

Last week, the UK government published its latest annual update on its five year strategy to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR). AMR, widely accepted as one of the major global challenges of the 21st century, is currently implicated in around 700,000 deaths worldwide, including 50,000 in the USA and Europe alone.

Meanwhile the cost of AMR to the UK's National Health Service is estimated to be in excess of £180 million ($240 million) per annum. As frontline antibiotics, like Alexander Fleming’s penicillin, risk becoming totally ineffective and replacement treatments running out. Whilst antimicrobial stewardship – the practice of limiting all but essential use of existing antibiotics – and improved infection control can form part of the solution, this is unlikely to halt AMR in the long-term. New treatments are urgently needed.