The 2nd Global Expert Meeting on AMR “Post G7 Ise-Shima Summit: Reflecting upon Japan’s National Action Plan and Addressing Next Steps for Global Antimicrobial Resistance” was convened on Friday, July 21st, 2017.

 

AMR presents an increasingly serious threat to global public health. It is imperative that all stakeholders urgently coordinate and take necessary actions at national and international levels across both the public and private sectors. One year after the enactment of Japanese “National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)“, the 2nd meeting provided an opportunity for open multi-stakeholder discussions to identify key achievements after the G7 Ise-Shima Summit as well as remaining challenges and the specific policy agenda to be addressed moving forward. The meeting served as a venue for policy discussions related to the AMR countermeasure that should continue to be promoted both within Japan and abroad.

 

Meeting participants raised points for discussion related to the threat of AMR within the international community and the role that should be played by Japan in consideration of the history of the G7, as well as the international promotion of AMR countermeasures moving forward. This discussion highlighted the importance of Japan-US collaboration. The details of the action plan formulated for AMR countermeasures by Japan in April were clarified, and participants touched on the future initiatives of Japan as the chair of the G7.

 

Kiyoshi Kurokawa (Chairman, HGPI) video message

 

A year has passed since the enactment of the National Action Plan on AMR by the Japanese Government. In relation to specific efforts within Japan, Dr. Kurokawa emphasized the importance of having relevant governmental ministries and agencies, as well as companies, work together to clarify policy issues. Dr. Kurokawa commented on key events and movement around AMR, such as a UN high level meeting and discussion at the G20 summit. He also highlighted the policy agenda for AMR that now requires discussion at the global level.

 

 

Keynote Address 1
Kuniaki Miyake (Director, Tuberculosis and Infectious Diseases Control

Division, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW))

 

Mr. Miyake described the way forward from the National Action Plan, based on discussions from domestic and international meetings on AMR. He touched on the importance of developing an integrated surveillance system, as well as the provision of support for antimicrobial development, in order for Japan to take leadership in this area and to meet the six goals formulated in the National Action Plan. 

 

Keynote Address 2
Kazuhiro Tateda (President, The Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases/
Professor, Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Toho University)

Professor Tateda gave a keynote address on the future direction of infectious diseases treatments in the AMR Era. He emphasized the goal of promoting the appropriate use of antimicrobials, rather than just aiming to meet numerical targets and figures. He also pointed out the importance of education and efforts to spread knowledge among primary care physicians in order to enable them to practice the appropriate use of antimicrobials.

 

Panel Discussion 1 
“G7 Ise-Shima Summit’s Achievements and Further Role to Combat AMR”
The discussion in Session 1 reflected on the changes made during the past year following the G7 Ise-Shima summit both globally and locally. The Panel elaborated on the complicated issue of the new framework for public-private partnerships (PPP) needed for AMR R&D policies.

 

 

The panel had a thorough discussion on R&D and the appropriate use of antimicrobials, touching upon the incentives needed to facilitate R&D from various perspectives. Insights were also shared regarding the re-establishment of insurance reimbursement systems to promote appropriate antimicrobial use. The audience joined the lively discussion with many questions and comments on the formulation of frameworks for international cooperation.

 

Panelists
• Gary M. Cohen (Executive Vice President and President, Global Health and Development, Becton, Dickinson and Company)
• Jayasree K. Iyer (Executive Director, Access to Medicine Foundation)
• Paul Schaper (Executive Director, Global Public Policy, Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, N.J., U.S.A.)
• Naoko Yamamoto (Senior Assistant Minister for Global Health, MHLW)

 

Moderator
Mayuka Yamazaki (Project Assistant Professor, Global Health Policy, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Tokyo)

Panel Discussion 2  
“Challenges and Next Agendas in Japan’s National Action Plan”

In this session, experts had a focused discussion on the remaining challenges and future agenda related to Japan’s National Action Plan, including incentives to foster antimicrobial development as well as possible frameworks for the government-industry-academia partnerships critical to that process.

 

 

A wide range of issues were addressed, including systems for rapid diagnostic testing, new mechanisms for drug development within Japan, and the utilization of active surveillance. Open discussions were held among the experts from the public, private and academic sectors, followed by a number of ideas and questions raised by the audience such as establishment of platforms for public-private partnerships and the importance of evaluating the quality of diagnostic methods and technology.

 

Panelists
• Norio Ohmagari (Vice Director, National Center for Global Health and Medicine / Director, Disease Control and Prevention Center(DCC) / Director, International Health Care Center at DCC)
• Takuko Sawada (Director of the Board, Senior Executive Officer, Senior Vice President, Corporate Strategy Division, Shionogi & Co., Ltd.)
• Kazuhiko Mori (Director, Evaluation and Licensing Division, MHLW)
• Katsunori Yanagihara (Professor, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki University)

 

Moderator
Ryoji Noritake
President, Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI)

 

 

Closing Remarks
Keizo Takemi (Member of the House of Councillors)

Building off of his long history of work in the global health field, including on AMR, Mr. Takemi spoke about the complex and pressing issue of AMR, including the importance of working to resolve issues related to the development and creation of new antimicrobials specifically to address AMR, through collaborations among the Cabinet Secretariat (including the Coordination Office of Measures on Emerging Infectious Diseases, and the Healthcare Policy Office), MHLW, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), the private sector, and academia.