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Independent research & practical ideas for global prosperity
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Independent research & practical ideas for global prosperity
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Global Health Policy
Posts in: Drug ResistanceDrug Resistance: Coming Soon to a Neighborhood Near YouAugust 10, 2011Posted by Kate McQueston in Drug Resistance Tags: Drug Resistance
This spring the WHO kicked off World Health Day with a foreboding slogan, “Antimicrobial resistance: no action today, no cure tomorrow,” to increase awareness of the dangers of drug resistance. Two months later, a new strand of E coli:0104 rapidly spread throughout thirteen countries in Europe and proved resistant to more than a dozen antibiotics. Considering these two events, policy makers and health care providers should be moving faster to set drug resistance as a top priority. 2 Comments »Turning Recommendations into Reality (to Combat Drug Resistance)October 20, 2010Posted by Rachel Nugent in Drug Resistance, Pharmaceuticals & Health Products Tags: Drug Resistance, TB
As some of you may know, CGD’s Drug Resistance Working Group released a report this summer, providing a comprehensive examination of drug resistance—across different diseases, geographies, and stakeholders. The report highlights alarmingly high rates of drug resistance throughout the world and warns of a growing public health crisis as more and more drugs lose their efficacy. One of the important findings of our work is that common drivers across diseases are causing treatments to fail. We have received very positive feedback since publishing the report in June. However, we are acutely aware that talk is cheap. Simply writing what needs to be done (much to the chagrin of my co-authors and myself!) is far easier than actually doing it. Since the report was published, we have been working with a range of organizations to advance the ideas and see them implemented. Read More… 4 Comments »Antiretroviral Drugs Will Retain Their Power Longer if Donors and Governments Assure Good AdherenceJune 21, 2010Posted by Mead Over in Drug Resistance, HIV/AIDS & Infectious Diseases Tags: AMFm, ART, Drug Resistance
A new research study by Hoare et al in PLoS (ungated) projects that, within ten years after countries attain universal access to antiretroviral treatment for AIDS, one fifth of all patients starting treatment will never have a chance to benefit from the least-expensive and least-toxic treatments, because their initial infection will be a drug resistant strain of HIV. We all know that drugs can get “worn out” from overuse. In rich countries, some of us remember when penicillin used to reliably treat many diseases, but now many disease agents are resistant to it. How, why and when do drugs stop working? CGD’s new report, The Race Against Drug Resistance, drives home the limited lifespan of all drugs and urges global action to contain this growing threat. A graphic in the report’s Annex depicts the lifespan of many different drugs in several important classes arrayed on a historical timeline. Among antibiotics, penicillin started failing after about ten years of use. Read More… 2 Comments »Congress Faces Resistance of a Different SortJune 14, 2010Posted by Rachel Nugent in Drug Resistance, Health Product Innovation and Access Tags: Drug Resistance, On the Hill, USAID
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Henry Waxman (D-CA) and his staff are worried about something, and it’s not politics. The Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health is holding a series of hearings on antimicrobial resistance. Waxman’s staff is notorious for their hard-hitting investigatory work on behalf of the Congressman’s former committee of jurisdiction, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Maybe the bugs should start to worry. As in drug-resistant bugs. Working with Health Subcommittee Chair Frank Pallone, the committee staff has organized three hearings on AMR, the second of which was held last week before a full hearing room. (I wrote about the first hearing here.) So far, the hearings have focused exclusively on antimicrobial resistance (commonly referred to as AMR), and the most visible ways that AMR is manifested in the U.S., including MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and Acinetobacter baumannii (sometimes called “Iraqibacter” because soldiers increasingly are sent home with resistant infections of this bug.) While this political attention is encouraging, it must extend to drug resistance across all infectious diseases and move beyond a U.S. focus. Read More… 2 Comments »Drug Resistance Gets a Hearing on Capitol HillMay 6, 2010Posted by Rachel Nugent in Drug Resistance, Health Product Innovation and Access Tags: Drug Resistance, On the Hill
Drug resistance finally got its day on Capitol Hill last week when the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee held a hearing on the topic. The event signaled interest in two ways: first, by the expert witnesses the panel invited, Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health and Thomas Frieden of the Centers for Disease Control; and second, by the number and importance of the subcommittee members who attended. Fifteen members joined the subcommittee’s chairman, Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), and ranking member, John Shimkus (R-Ill.), including Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the full committee, Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), Waxman’s predecessor as chairman, and two major supporters of legislation designed to tackle problems caused by drug resistance, Reps. Jim Matheson (D-Utah) and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.). Read More… 1 Comment »A Public Health Time BombDecember 28, 2009Posted by Rachel Nugent in Drug Resistance, Global Health, Health Product Innovation and Access, Pharmaceuticals & Health Products Tags: Drug ResistanceEmma Back and Alix Beith, consultants to the CGD Drug Resistance Working Group, contributed to this post. There’s a lot of attention being paid to the counterfeit drug trade at the moment. Former President of France, Jacques Chirac, recently chaired a meeting with West African leaders to discuss how to crack down on counterfeiting. Meanwhile, the Wellcome Trust and the American Pharmaceutical Group held an Opinion Formers’ conference on counterfeit medicines (presentations here); the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations produced a brief on the issue; and Roger Bate has continued to draw attention to counterfeits and other drug quality issues in developing countries, including through his book Making a Killing. And this is all on top of the WHO-hosted IMPACT initiative on counterfeits, which started in 2006. 2 Comments »A New Center on Disease OutbreaksOctober 1, 2009Posted by Rachel Nugent in Drug Resistance, Global Health Architecture and Governance Tags: Drug ResistanceResources for the Future is launching a new Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics, and Policy next week. The lunchtime launch is on Wednesday, October 7 and open to the public. The Center’s name may be long and a bit wonky, but the purpose is simple: conduct analysis to improve prediction and prevention of disease outbreak and spread – here in the U.S. and globally. That sounds a lot like the CDC, doesn’t it? Read More… Comment » |
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