May 2026
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This conference focused on priorities for tackling antimicrobial resistance in the UK. It examined delivery and next steps for the UK 5-year action plan for antimicrobial resistance 2024 to 2029 against the backdrop of heightened parliamentary scrutiny and findings from last year’s NAO report indicating limited progress.
Areas for discussion included the way forward for effectively incentivising research and innovation for antimicrobial resistance, implications of the Life Sciences Sector Plan, and priorities for public health, surveillance, stewardship, and raising awareness.
Key considerations moving forward for developing a coordinated and agile innovation ecosystem for AMR were assessed. We expected the agenda to bring out latest thinking on fostering effective partnership models and the way forward for industry-led innovation alignment with public health and health security aims, alongside opportunities for integrating new approaches to therapeutics, diagnostics and surveillance.
Policy & developing a preventative approach
Overall, this conference brought stakeholders and policymakers together to consider progress and next steps for the action plan. Strategies for strengthening performance monitoring were assessed, taking into account findings from the National Audit Office’s Investigation into how government is addressing antimicrobial resistance - including issues of clarity of leadership, use of data and accountability for delivery - and with the Public Accounts Committee calling for regular progress reviews.
Delegates examined latest thinking on reducing both reliance on antimicrobials and unintended exposure, including areas where risk factors could be addressed and potential opportunities for earlier intervention. The practical alignment of the AMR action plan with aims in the 10 Year Health Plan was considered, including implications of the health plan’s three key shifts towards a preventative, community-based and digital-first healthcare system for helping accelerate progress on antimicrobial resistance.
Training, prescribing & regulation
Sessions looked at priorities for workforce training, examining the impact of toolkits such as TARGET, approaches to better aligning primary and secondary care, and the role of community pharmacists in reducing unnecessary antimicrobial use going forward. Regulatory frameworks and pathways for addressing the rise in private prescribing were also discussed.
Detection, coordination & reducing inequalities
Looking at surveillance and response priorities, areas for discussion included next steps for effectively detecting and addressing AMR outbreaks, as well as for reducing inequalities amongst populations with the highest AMR levels, taking into account the UK Health Security Agency’s recent English surveillance programme for antimicrobial utilisation and resistance report.
Attendees considered strategies for better understanding modifiable risk factors, and for developing effective interventions to tackle widening disparities. Key considerations for supporting patients impacted by AMR-related conditions were also discussed, looking at next steps for expanding access to point-of-care diagnostic testing and timely treatment, and the role of digital health tools in informing prescribing and infection prevention and control practice.
Latest thinking on strengthening coordination between agricultural, health, and environmental strategies was considered, including addressing gaps in data-sharing, monitoring and risk evaluation, as well as next steps for UK leadership and in building and maintaining international partnerships, following the discontinuation of the Fleming Fund.
Regulation, innovation & investment
Attendees examined the role of regulation, including updated clinical trial frameworks, in helping accelerate progress on innovation, supply and access, and early-stage research. Economic incentives and approaches to funding were assessed, including what has been learned so far from the UK’s Antimicrobial Products Subscription Model and its implications for investment, stewardship and long-term market sustainability.
Further sessions looked at approaches for strengthening investor confidence, looking at what can be learned from international models where push and pull incentives are being utilised. The conference was also an opportunity to consider options for addressing barriers to market approval, and ways forward for aligning UK and global regulatory approaches.
Innovation was also a focus, looking at integrating new approaches to therapeutics, diagnostics and surveillance, including next steps for the role of artificial intelligence in driving drug discovery, and whole gene-sequencing of antimicrobial-resistant pathogens. Options for developing phage-based medicines were also assessed, in the context of Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s recently published guidance on Regulatory considerations for therapeutic use of bacteriophages in the UK.
As well as key stakeholders those attending included officials from the Department of Health and Social Care; Department of Health, NI; Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, NI; Health and Safety Executive; Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency; UK Health Security Agency; Food Standards Agency; House of Commons Library; the Welsh Government; and The Scottish Government.
