Study further confirms the need for better access to effective antibiotics
23 November 2023
As World Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2023 comes to a close for another year, it is important to highlight that maintaining our ability to effectively treat infections is crucial for not just saving lives, but also ensuring the viability of our Australian healthcare system.
A recent study, published in Infectious Diseases and Therapy, found that reducing drug-resistance for just three bacterial pathogens could, over 10 years, save Australia $10 million plus in hospitalisation costs and provide an economic benefit of more than $400 million to Australian healthcare providers.
The study quantified the economic and clinical value of reducing antimicrobial resistance in three Gram-negative pathogens (Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) in treating three of the most common hospital-acquired infections (HAIs): complicated urinary tract infections, complicated intra-abdominal infections, and pneumonia.
The study found a 95% reduction in resistance would save over 9000 hospital bed-days, almost 9000 quality adjusted life years, $10.5 million in hospital costs and deliver a $412.1 million economic benefit.
Given the study included only a limited number of pathogens, and a limited number of HAIs these benefits would very likely extend well beyond the estimated savings noted in the report.
The analysis demonstrates the urgent need to address AMR and confirms the importance of having access to therapies to treat drug resistant infections. It also confirms the health and economic benefits of novel reimbursement incentives that will improve access to, and accelerate the research and development #R&D of, new antimicrobials.
Only three of the twenty antimicrobials considered to be novel and registered in Europe and/or the US since 2011 have been registered in Australia.
The Australian Antimicrobial Resistance Network (AAMRNet), operated by MTPConnect, is advocating for Australia to rapidly establish a new reimbursement mechanism to improve access to much needed effective antimicrobials for Australian patients, as part of a coordinated set of actions to combat AMR.