FDA, Others Plan Meeting to Address Antimicrobial Resistance

Three US healthcare agencies, including the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), are planning to hold a meeting in November on the topic of antimicrobial resistance, and in particular the progress made to combat resistance and further steps to be taken.

The meeting, announced in a Federal Register posting on 19 September, will also involve the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of health (NIH), all of which are located within the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

The meeting's specific goal is to address an earlier plan, entitled "A Public Health Action Plan to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance (Action Plan)." The CDC report, written by the Interagency Task Force on Antimicrobial Resistance (ITFAR), was released in August 2011 and focuses on four action areas: surveillance of drug-resistant infections, better measurement of the use of antimicrobials, actions to reduce the use of antimicrobials and further research and development on new antimicrobials.

CDC, FDA and NIH will all be soliciting public input on their efforts to address these four areas, and will also be soliciting input on further efforts they can take.

The meeting will take place on 15 November 2012 in Washington, DC.