Towards an Antibiotic Roadmap for Sustainable Entry and Management of Antibiotic TANDEM-ABX in Low-and Middle-Income Countries
Towards an Antibiotic Roadmap for Sustainable Entry and Management of Antibiotic TANDEM-ABX in Low-and Middle-Income Countries
Year: July 2024
Collaborator: International Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance Solution (ICARS)
Team: Sarang Deo, Samriddhi. S. Gupte and Sweety Shreyasi
Background
Antimicrobial resistance poses a grave health concern, particularly in Low- and Middle-Income group nations with the countries bearing the burden of numerous drug-resistant pathogens. A major reason is the overuse and misuse of antimicrobials at home as well as in hospital settings. This unregulated antimicrobial use adversely impacts health security. In India the situation is no different, where the desultory use of antimicrobials and lack of adequate antimicrobial stewardship remains a major concern.
About the Study
Our study aims to devise a sustainable roadmap for the introduction of a new last-resort antibiotic TANDEM-ABX in India, with access stewardship as its focus to ensure its regulated use, lowering the risk of AMR.
Methodology
- Case studies of previous similar antibiotics to identify key factors that influenced their usage (eg. Bedaquiline and Ceftazidime Avibactam).
- Evaluate health system factors that impact antimicrobial stewardship practices in tertiary care settings.
- Generate insights for refinement of new drug introduction pathways through round table discussions with relevant stakeholders.
Outcome
To ensure structured and responsible introduction of the last-resort antibiotic, the researchers have developed a multi-stage framework, with each stage addressing critical aspects such as procurement, site selection, capacity building, usage tracking, and monitoring. The findings emphasize the need for a flexible yet standardized framework that can be adapted at the state level. This adaptability is essential to accommodate variations in healthcare governance structures, AMS maturity levels, and procurement systems across states.