8 steps to Elanco’s antibiotic stewardship plan

Elanco Animal Health, a division of Eli Lilly and Company, has unveiled its multi-faceted approach to combat the growing concern about antibiotic resistance. 

The release of it comprehensive antibiotic stewardship plan coincided with the company’s participation in the White House Forum on Antibiotic Stewardship, which was held on June 2.

The 8 steps of Elanco’s antibiotic stewardship plan are:

1. Act with responsibility globally - not just according to U.S. regulation - by working with food producers and retailers to provide training and encourage policies that reduce shared-class antibiotic use and increase veterinarian oversight.

2. Cease marketing of growth promotion uses for shared-class antibiotics and complete full regulatory change to end growth promotion use of shared-class antibiotics globally by the end of 2016.

3. Help customers eliminate continuous use of shared-class antibiotics for therapy purposes by providing an alternative.

4. Eliminate over-the-counter sales of shared-class antibiotics globally - including injectable products - where veterinarian oversight exists.

5. Eliminate concurrent use of shared-class antibiotics to treat the same disease.

6. Support veterinary oversight and responsible use, including helping build infrastructure globally.

7. Develop new animal-only antibiotics. No animal should ever be treated with a shared-class antibiotic if an animal-only option exists. Animal-only antibiotics optimize animal welfare without compromising human use antibiotics.

8. Create alternatives. Elanco commits to invest two-thirds of our food animal research budget to quickly evaluate 25 candidates and deliver 10 viable non-antibiotic development projects that address diseases where there are few, or no, alternatives to shared-class antibiotics.

In one year, Elanco will host an animal health accountability summit to provide a progress report on its effort to deliver non-antibiotic alternatives. Along the way, the company will collaborate with customers, academics and appropriate regulatory authorities, which will include establishing an expert advisory panel. Finally, Elanco will collaborate with its industry association and other technology companies to advance this effort as quickly as possible.