Namit Joshi, Chairman of the Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (PHARMEXCIL), has urged manufacturers of antimicrobial products to adopt responsible manufacturing practices as a strategic priority.

“Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) poses a significant threat to the industry’s top line. Manufacturers of antimicrobial products must proactively adopt responsible manufacturing practices—not just as a sustainability measure, but as a strategic imperative,” said Joshi, who also serves as Commercial Director at Centrient Pharmaceuticals, in a recent LinkedIn post.

He warned that waiting for regulatory mandates or integration into Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) or Risk Management Plans (RMP) could result in reactive compliance, reputational damage, or financial setbacks.

“The time to shift gears is now—responsible manufacturing must move from a compliance checkbox to a core value,” Joshi stressed.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), antimicrobial resistance is one of the top global public health and development threats.

Antimicrobials—including antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals, and antiparasitics—are used to prevent and treat infections in humans, animals, and plants.

AMR occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites change over time and no longer respond to antimicrobial medicines, making infections harder to treat and increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death.

In 2019 alone, bacterial AMR directly caused an estimated  1.27 million deaths and contributed to nearly 5 million fatalities globally.

In addition to death and disability, AMR has significant economic costs. The World Bank projects that AMR could drive up healthcare costs by an additional USD 1 trillion by 2050 and result in USD 1 trillion USD 1 trillion to USD 3.4 trillion gross domestic product (GDP) losses per year by 2030.

As of November 2023, 178 countries had developed national AMR action plans aligned with the Global Action Plan (GAP).

India has been actively addressing the issue through several initiatives. These include the formation of a National Task Force on AMR Containment, the development of a National Policy on AMR, and the implementation of the National Programme on AMR Containment. The Union Health Ministry has also established a nationwide surveillance network, with labs contributing data to the Global AMR Surveillance System (GLASS) and publishing annual National AMR Surveillance Reports.