Swiss Round Table on Antibiotics

This study report is the result of collaboration between the Swiss Round Table on Antibiotics, Swiss TPH, the University of Lausanne (UniL) and the University of Jigjiga. We assessed compliance with Good Distribution Practices (GDP) and antibiotic stewardship in public and private hospitals providing primary to tertiary care in urban and rural areas in the Somali region of eastern Ethiopia. The results are intended to support healthcare facilities in their preparations so that manufacturers make their new antibiotics available to patients in this country.

This study was funded by the Däster Schild Foundation.

To access the study report please click on title or text.

On 4 June, the Swiss Round Table on Antibiotics held its 6th General Assembly at its headquarters in sitem-insel in Bern.
After the official part, the event provided space for a workshop: in four moderated teams the participants developed proposals on how to strengthen the association's profile in order to create value-adding opportunities for further promoting the association's purpose.
The results were remarkable and inspiring and will form the basis for the further development of the association.

We compare the legal options in Switzerland and Australia for importing medicines that are not authorised in these countries in cases of urgent need. While this allows treatment gaps to be closed on a case-by-case basis, the disadvantages of a lack of systematic stockpiling and delayed availability in the case of critical antibiotics can pose a risk to patients.

We are ending 2024 by congratulating our board member Prof. Andreas Widmer on being awarded the Robert Koch Foundation Prize for his merits in hospital hygiene and infection prevention, an impressive report from the University Hospital Zurich, where the lack of adequate access to innovative antibiotics in Switzerland is making the successful treatment of infections caused by multi-resistant pathogens a race against time, and more.

What can we do to secure the availability of life-saving antibiotics and the functioning of our health care system? The Swiss Round Table on Antibiotics’ annual event on 4^th November 2024 provided opportunities for representatives of science, medicine, industry, and society to discuss new financing and reimbursement options and how roadblocks in their way to implementation might be recognised and removed. The event was also dedicated to the upcoming World AMR Awareness Week.

Erfahren Sie mehr über die gemeinsame Präsentation des Bundesamts für Gesundheit und der RTA am Global AMR Hub, die schwedische Politik zur Verbesserung des Zugangs zu Antibiotika und weitere interessante Themen in der September-Ausgabe unseres Newsletters.

Read about the plans of the NHS to introduce a permanent public procurement scheme for selected antimicrobials, the activities of our international partners engaging in AMR countermeasures, and further interesting topics in the latest edition of our newsletter.

The Swiss Round Table on Antibiotics has made remarkable progress in several areas of activity during the last year. The RTA – led by Barbara Polek, the managing director of the association – was able to strengthen its governance structure and enlarge its operational team to four people. Another major organisational milestone was the relocation of the association into a new office space located in the Swiss Institute for Translational and Entrepreneurial Medicine (sitem-insel) in Bern.

In our webinar you will find out why we need both pull and push incentives to bring new antimicrobial technologies to patients.

"Why do we need a pull incentive to push antibiotics onto the market?"

In the White Paper published today the Swiss Round Table on Antibiotics discusses innovative ways of paying for antibiotics. We conclude that paying higher prices per package will not set the right incentive. Switzerland should rather test annual payments of a fixed fair amount per product – as other countries have already done. Only by joining forces can we revitalise the global development of antibiotics – to the benefit of patients in Switzerland and worldwide.

The Swiss Round Table on Antibiotics will publish its white paper "Effective antibiotics for the Swiss health care system: today and in the future" on Monday, 25 March 2024. Further details can be found in the media release.

The Swiss Round Table on Antibiotics proudly highlights the articles in the February 2024 edition of the StAR Newsletter, which showcase two events we organised in commemoration of the World AMR Awareness Week (WAAW) 2023.

The Swiss Round Table on Antibiotics commemorated the 2023 World AMR Awareness Week with a special event for its members and guests from its wider ecosystem. The event took place on November 27 in the premises of Debiopharm International in Lausanne and was cordially opened by the president of the company, Mr. Thierry Mauvernay.

About 70 participants from academia, industry, medicine, and the public administration followed the presentations that started with insights in the clinical practice. Further speakers shed light on current challenges, opportunities and solutions along the entire pharmaceutical value chain from early research up to making new antibiotics available to the patients.

Antibiotics were the focus of this year's Swiss Pharma Science Day, organised by the Swiss Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences (SAPhS).

The Swiss Round Table on Antibiotics supports Patricia von Falkenstein's request (Motion 21.4539) to create incentives to develop new antibiotics in Switzerland and bring them to market (pull incentives). 

On 31. May 2023 the Public Health Agency of Sweden (PHAS) published the final report about their alternative reimbursement model (a pull incentive) that was piloted from July 2020 to December 2022. See the Round Table's brief summary and the full report in Swedish. 

The fourth General Assembly of the Round Table on Antibiotics took place on 30 May 2023 at the Swiss Institute for Translational and Enterpreneurial Medicine (sitem-insel) in Bern.

Today the FOPH confirmed a contribution to advance the Round Table on Antibiotics’ (RTA) Pull project. This project addresses the two goals set forth by the Swiss Strategy of Antibiotic Resistance and by the 2022-2026 report on Federal Measures to Strengthen Biomedical Research and Technology, namely to promote the availability of first-choice antibiotics and the development of new antibiotics by means of innovative reimbursement models (pull incentives).

To mark the end of World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (WAAW) and the start of the winter session of the Swiss Parliament, we have published the Roadmap to a Swiss Pull Incentive Scheme for Novel Antibiotics.

On 10 November 2022, Swiss television SRF featured the Round Table on Antibiotics in its news programme 10vor10.

We are proud to finally launch our new website. We hope you enjoy reading it.

The Executive Board unanimously appointed Barbara Polek, lic.rer.pol., MSc. as Managing Director of the Round Table on Antibiotics on 13. September 2022. We are very excited to win and welcome an expert with almost 40 years experience in pharmaceutical industry who is keen to further our mission.

Our Managing Director, Barbara Polek, explains in an interview with Interpharma how the AMR challenges should be addressed.

The General Assembly took place on May 31, 2022, at the Swiss Institute for Translational Medicine (sitem-insel) in Bern. The most important decision was the confirmation to pursue the strategic path proposed by the Board.