Resistance is rarely futile – reinvigorating the AMR ecosystem

Might we defeat our oldest enemy in fighting one of the newest? Peter Jackson looks at how lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic can support the development of new treatments for antimicrobial resistance and other infectious diseases.

During a series of lectures at the Museum of London in 2018, Professor Chris Whitty described infectious diseases as our ‘oldest enemy’ – one that throughout time has remained a pivotal element in both medicine and morbidity.

Whitty outlined the threat and, given his appointment a year later as England’s Chief Medical Officer, could well have imagined making speeches about the risks of infections crossing borders in our globalised world. Yet, COVID-19 has surely surpassed even his predictions of the challenges involved in tackling a pandemic that has given us all a harsh lesson in preparedness.