Overview

• India’s health research agency has submitted recommendations to the Health Ministry and the DCGI to restrict sales of new high-generation antibiotics to designated hospital pharmacies.
• The proposal ties availability to hospitals that run antimicrobial stewardship, meet infection-prevention standards, and report AMR data, with changes suggested under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act and Rules.
• National surveillance shows Klebsiella pneumoniae with 62.3% resistance to meropenem in 2023 and a drop in Escherichia coli imipenem susceptibility from 81% in 2017 to 63% in 2023, narrowing treatment options.
• Clinicians report increased reliance on last-resort polymyxins as piperacillin-tazobactam and carbapenem effectiveness falls, with rising polymyxin resistance also noted.
• Infectious-disease experts at the CIDS conference called for stronger stewardship, rigorous infection control, improved diagnostics, public sensitisation, and curriculum upgrades, while cautioning that resistance can quickly follow new drugs such as plazomicin and cefiderocol.