Medical Technologies are a key part of the solution, now and in the future

The medical technology industry welcomes the proposal for Council Recommendations on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR){1} and the Parliament’s Motion for a Resolution to Combat AMR{2} . A coordinated European approach is vital to addressing this complex health challenge, and the medical technology industry is proud to play a key role in the fight against AMR – from prevention to control.

While the co-legislator’s recommendation and resolution are a step in the right direction, more can and needs to be done to tackle AMR now. Attention should be given to measures that prevent, detect, and manage infections and resistance. Medical technology tools and software that support such measures exist and, more importantly, are immediately available. MedTech Europe calls for a holistic approach that embraces and strengthens the role of such tools to combat AMR. We propose 5 concrete ways to do so:

1. Beyond new antibiotics: The proposed Council Recommendations and the Parliament’s Motion for a Resolution focus primarily on the potential of new antibiotics to address AMR. This scope is too narrow. The clinical pipeline of novel antibiotics is a central component of the response to AMR, but it will take time until new medicines reach patients. In this critical waiting period, the role of medical technologies across the AMR pathway – from prevention to control – must be recognised and bolstered. At the same time, actions on research and innovation should be broader in scope and include medical technology solutions.
2. Infection prevention & control: Prevention is key to protecting patients, communities, and health systems. Infection control must be reinforced by stricter adherence to clinical protocols. Clear KPIs must be set, regularly measured, and published to ensure commitment of all stakeholders in the fight against AMR. Prevention in out-of-hospital settings should also be highlighted, including primary care, where most antibiotics are prescribed, as well as dental practices, aesthetic medicine clinics and other community health facilities. Where there are patients and service users, we must incentivise and prioritise prevention.
3. Surveillance: The role of surveillance should be emphasised, with stronger attention to screening and monitoring as part of a One Health approach. Use of diagnostic tests and clinical surveillance at single point of care should be stressed and adequately funded. Softwares can bring together data from various hospital systems, helping clinicians to monitor infection, detect pathogens, comply with reporting protocol, and prescribing practices. This contributes to good antimicrobial stewardship, supporting targeted and  timely interventions that improve patient outcomes.
4. Diagnostic testing: Prudent prescribing decisions must be informed by diagnostic information; in hospital settings, identifying resistance that threatens patient safety must also be a focus. Molecular diagnostic testing can also indicate whether bacteria are drug resistant, thus supporting clinicians in selecting the right treatment. Prescribing decisions are made in a variety of health settings, including in primary care. Access to, and uptake of, diagnostics across the health system are essential to effective patient management and appropriate use of antibiotics.
5. Integrated approaches: Shared solutions to the AMR challenge will require EU-wide, and international, collaboration. This will mean greater harmonisation between Member States’ national plans on AMR to ensure a common approach on what to measure and how to determine success.

The Council Recommendations and the Parliament’s Motion for a Resolution can be a catalyst for action. MedTech Europe calls on policymakers to take a broader, more balanced approach that leverages multi-stakeholder collaboration, and that harnesses the medical technology solutions that are already contributing to combatting this pressing health challenge as well as future medical innovations. In this urgent collective drive to combat AMR, we must use the technologies we have today, while investing in innovations that may deliver the solutions of tomorrow.

References:

1. Proposal for a Council Recommendation on AMR
2. European Parliament Resolution on EU action to combat antimicrobial resistance

About MedTech Europe

MedTech Europe is the European trade association for the medical technology industry including diagnostics, medical devices and digital health. Our members are national, European and multinational companies as well as a network of national medical technology associations who research, develop, manufacture, distribute and supply health-related technologies, services and solutions.
www.medtecheurope.org.

For more information, please contact:

Jessica Imbert
Director External Affairs
MedTech Europe
j.imbert@medtecheurope.org

Please find the attachment of the original statement below:

Statement – MedTech Europe Urges for More Immediate Actions to Tackle AMR

On 7 June 2023, the PID Forum titled “Navigating the Complexities of the Pharmaceutical Legislation”, organised by the International Patient Organisation for Primary Immunodeficiencies (IPOPI) in collaboration with MEP Billy Kelleher (Renew, Ireland), MEP Cyrus Engerer (S&D, Malta) and MEP Tomislav Sokol (EPP, Croatia), will take place at the European Parliament.

You can register for the event here.

Despite the progress in understanding and treatment of Type 2 Diabetes (T2D), the number of Europeans living with the condition continues to rise, causing unacceptably high numbers of premature deaths, equivalent to three jumbo jets crashing every single day. Today, 61 million people live with diabetes in Europe and this figure is expected to reach 66 million by 2030, with T2D accounting for about 90% of diabetes cases.

To raise awareness of the urgent need to adopt recent evidence-based recommendations in the management of T2D, IDF Europe is launching a new publication: “Type 2 Diabetes: a preventable catastrophe?”.

We invite you to join our panel of representatives from academia, healthcare professionals, people living with T2D, industry and policy makers to discuss why we urgently need to re-design our healthcare systems across Europe and remove the barriers that are preventing early and tight management of T2D and its associated risk factors.

Please click on the following link to find the full programme of the event and the registration link: https://events.euractiv.com/event/info/media-partnership-type-2-diabetes-a-preventable-catastrophe

This sixth episode of EcoQUIP+’s procurement series for health managers will focus on innovations procured by healthcare providers to address existing healthcare challenges. In this webinar, our panellists Sofía Moreno Pérez (Procurement Coordinator for RITMOCORE project) and Ion Arrizabalaga Garde (Innovation Procurement Management and Coordination for AQuAS, coordinator of the RaDAR project) will discuss the role of public procurement of innovation in addressing current health challenges such as the treatment of patients using or in need of an implantable pacemaker and having effective infection control system for antimicrobial resistance. By drawing on examples of their respective projects, RITMOCORE and RaDAR, they will explain how to transition into outcome-based payments, and how to implement a value-based cross-border collaborative procurement.

RITMOCORE is a Public Procurement of Innovation (PPI) project, funded by the European Union under Horizon2020, addressing the evolution in the treatment of patients using or in need of an implantable pacemaker (PM). RITMOCORE’s model addresses both problems of how to purchase more devices, and how to make the best use of clinicians’ time, while increasing quality of care and contributing to preserve long term sustainability of the healthcare system. It  shifts from purchasing devices to purchasing services, where payments are outcome based (thus distributing the risk between the parties), and where services are supported by advanced ICT systems.

RaDAR is a project co-funded by the COSME Programme of the European Union which aims to address the European urgent need of a rapid detection and effective infection control system for antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This will be done through a Buyers Group, composed of four public procurement organisations, that will implement a value-based cross-border collaborative procurement of innovative solutions.

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This webinar will take place on 16 May 2023 at 11:00 CET.

Please click on this link to register.

Active Citizenship Network (ACN) is pleased to invite you on March 14, 2023, from 14:30 to 17:00 to 2 new training seminars!

Implemented as part of two projects, “Improving health literacy for better public and patient involvement in mitigating COVID-19 pandemic using interactive and intuitive educational tools”  &  “Protecting the value of access to care during – and after – the COVID-19 pandemic across Europe: focus on antivirals”, the training sessions will be addressed to representatives of Civic and Patients’ Associations from across Europe. The events, which will be held in English, will provide a common set of up-to-date information, share experiences, identify lessons learned, and also obtain feedback from the associations.

There will be two separate sessions: 1) “Knowing and Mitigating the Impact of COVID-19” with these main topics:- Essential language and dangerous beliefs – Virus mutations, how they happen and what to expect – What should we expect (and not expect) from the anti-COVID-19 vaccine? – Antibiotic use in COVID-19, when is it appropriate? 2) “The value of access to care: focus on antivirals” on – Treatments and approved drugs: to whom and how? The role of antivirals – Complications of the disease, not only lungs. – Symptoms of “Long Covid,” how to identify it and what to do; Do vaccines have a role? –  Cancer prevention and screening: the great absentees in the pandemic.

Register here! 

Author: Ilaria Galetti, Vice President GILS ODV – Gruppo Italiano per la Lotta alla Sclerodermia.

Milan, Spring 1996. I was studying at the University, in an ancient cloister, when I noticed the first sign of the disease that would be my unfriendly and undesired partner of my life: systemic sclerosis, also known as scleroderma. Systemic sclerosis is a rare, autoimmune, and very complex condition, that can affect the skin, lungs, heart, gastrointestinal tract, joints, and overall, the whole body. One medicine has been approved for its treatment, but only for lung fibrosis and nothing else.

Clinical practice guidelines recommend immunosuppressive therapies to lower the immune system, but no selective or personalised therapies are available. This means that the whole immune system is affected, exposing the body to many infections. The disease causes digital ulcers, very painful and often infected, that need to be treated with topic or systemic antibiotics. A swab should always be performed to use the right antibiotics.

Immunosuppressive therapies are still too generic, meaning that they inhibit the whole immune system, paving the way to several infections (mainly lung infections). This can be difficult to treat and can require hospitalisation. A careful evaluation of which antibiotics or specific treatments must be used, should always be performed, targeting the right bacteria, viruses, or fungi.

The last two and a half years have taught us many things regarding prevention that should become routine in our daily life. Prevention plays an extremely important role. Hand hygiene, the use of masks when meeting people with the flu, meeting people who are not perfectly healthy, and when going to the hospital for check-up visits or infusion therapies, should be a must for the so-called fragile patients and their families. The lower the risk of infections, the lower the need to use antibiotics.

Another important issue is the adherence to the prescribed therapy. In too many cases the antibiotic therapy is halted by the patient when symptoms and signs of the illness disappear. Prescribers and pharmacists should stress the importance of adhering to the therapy in order to get a full healing and prevent a relapse. On top of this, patients often spontaneously use the pills that remain in their stock, with a sort of self-prescription to cure “potential” infections diagnosed by themselves.

In my experience at national and European level I would encourage a programme on the correct use of antimicrobics in the wider community of connective tissue diseases. A few tips to prevent the spread of antimicrobial resistance:

• Don’t take an antibiotic for a virus: antibiotics only work against bacteria; they are not useful to cure a simple flu.
• Don’t save an antibiotic for the next time you get sick: you cannot know what kind of bacteria you have.
• Take antibiotics exactly as prescribed. Don’t skip doses. The efficacy is not immediate, it requires 3 or 4 days or even more.
• Never take an antibiotic prescribed for someone else. As above: you do not know the bacteria has infected you.

These recommendations can help save lives including your life and the lives of those close to you.

You can register for the event here.