Mr Kevin Barron (Rother Valley) (Lab)

- Hansard -

I am pleased to see that many hon. Members have turned up for the formal presentation of the petition tonight. I had the honour of having the parliamentary launch of the Antibiotic Action initiative on Wednesday last week, when a formal petition of more than 4,300 signatures was handed in at No. 10 Downing street.

The petition states:

The Petition of supporters of Antibiotic Action, a national initiative of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy,

Declares that the Petitioners believe that the treatment of common and serious bacterial infections will be seriously compromised unless urgent steps are taken to stimulate investment in the discovery and development of new antibiotics, further declares that to support the discovery, development and bringing-to-market of new antibacterial agents, opportunities should be identified to safely streamline and accelerate the licensing processes for new antibiotics; declares that the commercial challenges faced by industry in developing and bringing new antibiotics to the marketplace should be addressed, and declares that more partnership between academia and pharmaceutical and diagnostics companies in the UK should be encouraged, in order to maximise the conversion of discovered-candidate molecules into licensed antibiotics available for use on the NHS.

The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to review the licensing processes for new antibiotics, conduct a review of the commercial challenges faced by the pharmaceutical industry in developing and bringing new antibiotics to the marketplace and encourage more partnership between academia and pharmaceutical and diagnostics companies in the UK.

And the Petitioners remain, etc.

[P000983]