24th MARCH 2014

Speaking on World Tuberculosis Day, Dr Roberto Frontini, President of the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP), called for better patient counselling, antimicrobial stewardship and new antibiotic development in order to successfully eliminate the disease as a public health concern in Europe by 2050.

With recent data published by the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC) showing European health systems still facing problems in treating multidrug-resistant TB successfully, Dr Frontini reiterated the need to utilise the role of hospital pharmacists in providing both counselling about medication use and antimicrobial stewardship services, and for European Governments to work together in incentivising and facilitating the development of new antibiotics.

Dr Frontini said:

“A major factor in the development of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) has been non-adherence to treatment. Yet with TB being an infectious and contagious disease, adherence takes on that extra importance. Hospital pharmacists have a pivotal role to play both in improving adherence through patient counselling, but also in improving prescribing and treatment through multidisciplinary collaboration. I urge policy makers overseeing national responses to the TB challenge in Europe to grasp the opportunities before them by advancing the pharmacist role in these areas.

Further to this, many countries have now instituted policy measures to ensure hospital pharmacists have prominent roles in antimicrobial stewardship. This occurs to me as the right policy response given the gravity of the antimicrobial resistance problem and I encourage other countries to give such measures serious consideration.

Finally, alongside reducing inappropriate use of antibiotics, there is a clear need to scale up the search for new agents. European Governments must accept the urgency of this challenge and work together to create an improved environment for discovery. Whilst this includes the EU’s Horizon 2020 research programme and the Innovative Medicines Initiative, the new Commission scheduled for late 2014 should review what further improvements can be made.”

ENDS

For further information contact info[at]eahp[dot]eu 00 322 741 6835

NOTES TO EDITORS:

1.   The European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP) is an association of national organisations across 34 countries representing hospital pharmacists at European and international levels. More information about the EAHP and its history here.

2. World Tuberculosis Day takes place every year on 24^th March. It commemorates the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch astounded the scientific community by announcing that he had discovered the cause of tuberculosis, the TB bacillus. More information here.
    
3. The World Health Organisation is targeting the elimination of tuberculosis as a public health concern by 2050. More information here.
    
4. A recent Surveillance Report by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) found that whilst there had been a decrease between 2011 and 2012 in respect of the notification rate of the disease, EU/EEA states are still not meeting the set targets for successful treatment of the multidrug-resistant form of tuberculosis, MDR TB. Only one in every three (34%) patients in the reporting EU/EEA countries finishes MDR TB treatment successfully. More than half die, fail treatment or default (stop taking treatment). More information here.
    
5. The Republic of Ireland provides an example of a country that has adopted the importance of pharmacists in taking responsibility for antimicrobial stewardship within hospitals, reflected in 2009 Health Service Executive Guidelines on the topic. More information here.
    
6. Another example is provided by the Start Smart Then Focus (SSTF) antimicrobial stewardship resource in the UK health service. More information here.
    
7. Information about Horizon 2020 and its part in meeting the antimicrobial resistance challenge, is available here.
    
8. Information about the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) and its part in meeting the antimicrobial resistance challenge, is available here.