The lack of new antibiotics is exposing the UK population to serious risk from untreatable gonorrhoea, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) has warned.

The Agency’s Gonorrhoea Resistance Action Plan aims to maximise the effectiveness of existing treatments after a year in which new diagnoses rose by 25%.

The increasing prevalence of antibiotic-resistant strains draws attention to the lack of new therapies, a problem highlighted by GSK’s Andrew Witty in 2012.

The action plan, developed by the HPA’s Gonococcal Resistance to Antimicrobials Surveillance Programme (GRASP), places emphasis on data collection, rapid detection of treatment failures, and actions to reduce infection rates.

The GRASP data show that new gonorrhoea diagnoses rose by 25% in 2011 to nearly 21,000. Men who have sex with men made up a third of new infections, compared to a quarter in 2010.

With treatment failures occurring worldwide and no new antibiotics in the pipeline, England’s Chief Medical Officer recently argued that antibiotic resistance should be considered a civil emergency on a par with terrorism.

Professor Cathy Ison, lead author of the action plan, said: “Ensuring treatment-resistant gonorrhoea strains do not persist and spread remains a major public health concern. The GRASP Action Plan sets out practical, measurable actions to extend the useful life of the current recommended therapies in England and Wales.”

Current fears that the transfer of sexual health services to the council-funded public health system will see cuts in these services has intensified concern about the likely spread of untreatable gonorrhoea.

Andrew Witty, CEO of GSK, commented in 2012 that by the time a viable commercial model for new antibiotics existed, it would be too late to avert a serious pandemic. “The market has failed,” he concluded.

Antibiotic Action, a new UK-led initiative to encourage global investment in the development of new antibiotics, is working to establish an all-party Parliamentary Group that can address the issue.

Professor Laura Piddock, Director of Antibiotic Action, commented: “The GRASP Action Plan is a good example of why we need new drugs, and begs the question why they are not being developed for this infection. Government must act now to avert this and similar crises that threaten the health of our nation.”

Pfizer’s Prevenar 13 (Pneumococcal Polysaccharide Conjugate Vaccine [13-valent, Adsorbed]) has been launched in the UK for active immunisation of invasive disease caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae in adults aged 50 and over.

It becomes the first and only pneumococcal conjugate vaccine to be licensed for adults aged 50 and over after gaining a new indication from the EMA.

Dr George Kassianos, GP and immunisation lead for the Royal College of GPs and the British Travel Health Association, says its introduction is an “important achievement and step forward” for adult patients.

The vaccine was first licensed for infants and young children in December 2009 in Europe and used during the UK’s Childhood Immunisation Schedule in April last year.

The new indication provides a new treatment option for the prevention of adult invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD), which includes the potentially fatal bacteraemic pneumonia, meningitis and septicaemia.

Chris Head, CEO of the Meningitis Research Foundation, welcomed the vaccine’s launch in the UK. “The new license for Prevenar 13 provides an opportunity to protect adults over 50, who are more at risk of serious pneumococcal disease than younger adults,” he said.

Until Prevenar 13’s new indication, adults over 65 and those in clinical risk groups were treated with the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine. But in clinical trials, patients given Prevenar 13 had significantly higher antibody responses with the vaccine expected to protect against seven out of the most ten most comment serotypes which causes IPD.

The Government’s choice of using GSK’s Cervarix to vaccinate against cervical cancer is less cost-effective than Merck’s Gardasil, a new study has found.

Authors of the Health Protection Agency (HPA) study stated that, if equally priced, Merck’s Gardasil was more cost-effective, despite the fact that Cervarix may provide better protection against cervical cancer, but said that “considerable uncertainty” remains about the differential benefits of the two vaccines.

In 2008, the UK Government chose Cervarix for its Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme, believed to be the cheapest option.

But since then, new evidence has emerged to differentiate the two vaccines.

The HPA has now found that Cervarix would need to be between £19 to £35 cheaper to match Gardasil’s price.

Also, Cervarix has proved to give better protection against cervical cancer caused by HPV types other than 16 and 18. Gardasil has also shown protection against vulvar, vaginal and anal cancer.

A spokesman for the HPA said: “The Department of Health will use the results of this study as part of its decision-making process when reviewing its current vaccine choice.”

The selection of the vaccine will be re-evaluated when the current tender for the vaccination programme expires before the end of 2011.

“Deciding which vaccine to use for national immunisation programmes is a complex task. Many factors, including the cost of the vaccine, must be taken in to account,” added the HPA spokesman.

Both vaccines protect against HPV types 16 and 18, which are responsible for over 70% of cervical cancer cases, as well as other types of cancer. Gardasil also vaccinates against types 6 and 11, which cause the majority of genital warts as well as a rare disease called respiratory papillomatosis.

Human papillomavirus is a common sexually transmitted infection seen most often in young women. There are more than 100 types of HPVs; some cause genital warts, but others cause cancers including cervical cancer.

HPV testing is currently being integrated into England's cervical cancer screening programme, and will be fully incorporated within the year.

Cervarix was found to protect against five of the most common cancer-causing viruses in July 2009.