Antimicrobial resistance ‘deadlier threat than cancer’, Osborne warns

Antimicrobial resistance will become ‘an even deadlier threat to mankind than cancer is today without coordinated global action’, Chancellor George Osborne has warned.

Osborne issued the warning on a trip to Washington D.C. to discuss international action to tackle the growing problem of resistance to antibiotics.

The Chancellor warned that 10 million people a year could die across the globe by 2050 as a result of antimicrobial resistance, which is a higher number than currently die from cancer.

He also warned that resistance poses more than just a human threat, with figures suggesting resistance to antibiotics could reduce global GDP by up to 3.5 per cent, which represents a cumulative cost of $100 trillion.

Osborne said: “Unless we take global action, antimicrobial resistance will become an even greater threat to mankind than cancer currently is.

“It is not just a health problem but an economic one, too. The cost of doing nothing, both in terms of lives lost and money wasted, is too great, and the world needs to come together to agree a common approach.

“My message here at the IMF meeting in Washington is that we need the world’s governments and industry leaders to work together in radical new ways.

“We have to dramatically shift incentives for pharmaceutical companies and others to create a long-term solution to this problem, with new rewards, funded globally, that support the development of new antibiotics and ensure access to antibiotics in the developing world.

“To achieve a long-term solution we also need better rapid diagnostics that will cut the vast amounts of unnecessary antibiotic use.”