O’Neill Review

Alex Chalk Excerpts

Tuesday 7th March 2017 Westminster Hall

[Kevin Hollinrake]

Yes, what we need is a mixture of solutions. The UK by its own admission is mid-range across Europe in its use of antibiotics in agriculture. That is one thing, but we have been world leaders on this issue and for me mid-range is not where we need to be; we need to be at the forefront and world leaders in terms of best practice, whatever aspect of this issue we are dealing with.

There are four key recommendations in the O’Neill review’s 10 main recommendations. The last one is on market entry rewards to solve the problem of pharmas not investing in research and development, as well as a possible levy on drug companies that do not invest in research.

[Alex Chalk (Cheltenham) (Con)]

The World Health Organisation has made it clear, chillingly, that resistance to last resort antibiotics is present globally, so we have to act. Does my hon. Friend agree that we will not create vital new drugs until we align better the public health needs with the commercial incentives, and that Governments need to correct what is the most dangerous market failure in history?

[Kevin Hollinrake]

That is correct, and the review sets that out clearly. At the moment, if there is not a commercial return, it is difficult for pharmaceutical companies to invest in this field, although some are. For example, AstraZeneca recently sold its late-stage small molecule antibiotic business to Pfizer and so stepped out of research and development, but others, such as MSD, are still investing. It cannot be right that some companies are willing to invest—perhaps for altruistic purposes—when others are not. The O’Neill review discusses whether there should be a reimbursement or an insurance model, so that pharmaceutical companies can be sure that they will get a certain amount every year for drugs if they do develop them. It cannot be right that some contribute and some do not, so a levy for those that do not seems sensible to me. I do not think it should be left simply to big pharma to solve the problem.

The O’Neill review talks about a global AMR innovation fund—GAMRIF—to make funding available for smaller third sector organisations. Having Antibiotic Research UK, the world’s first charity in this field, in my constituency is how the issue was brought to my attention. It is doing fantastic research. From donations made by individuals, it has got hundreds of thousands of pounds that it is investing in “resistance breakers”, which is blending drugs together to repurpose existing antibiotics. That again is one of the recommendations in the report. Yes, big pharma, but we have also got to make some funding available to the smaller organisations, too.