Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to stimulate (1) awareness of, and (2) research into, dual use of antifungals in (a) medicine, and (b) agriculture, as well as to engage with relevant stakeholders.

NHS England’s national pharmacy and prescribing clinical lead is supported by seven regional antimicrobial stewardship leads, which collaborate with stakeholders in infection prevention and control and patient safety and with the Care Quality Commission to mitigate the threat of antimicrobial resistance, including from dual use of antifungals.

The Environment Agency is investigating antifungal resistance in the environment to determine whether particular levels of antifungals in surface waters from releases by agriculture or water treatment may lead to resistance. It is engaging with external bodies including leading United Kingdom universities and the research councils. The UK Health Security Agency is releasing regular reports on fungal infection surveillance and antifungal prescribing data for a selection of fungal pathogens.

The Medical Research Council is funding the Centre for Medical Mycology at the University of Exeter to undertake research into the use of antifungals in medicine. The Centre will host a National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre on clinical mycology and therapeutics to prevent and manage potentially deadly fungal infections. While the NIHR has not supported specific research on dual use of antifungals and it is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions, the NIHR has invested more than £6 million in research into fungal infection in the last five years.