The research programme MistraPharma is awarded SEK 52 million by Mistra, the Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research. Joakim Larsson, associate professor of physiology at the Sahlgrenska Academy, leads one of the eight teams participating in the programme, and which now has four more years of research funded.
– It is very gratifying that we have renewed trust. The next four years, my group will put a strong focus on antibiotic resistance, one of the greatest threats to public health globally, says Joakim Larsson, researcher in translational pharmacology in the Department of Neuroscience and Physiology.
The research program is entering its second phase. So far, the researchers in Gothenburg have shown that the drug production can lead to extremely high emissions of pharmaceuticals to the environment, and that antibiotics emission favors multi-resistant bacteria in the environment. In addition, the researchers have shown that synthetic hormones that are similar to progesterone pass through Swedish municipal sewage plants and could affect fish reproduction.
These research findings have resulted in the Swedish county councils, including the Region Västra Götaland, now are the first in the world to impose requirements on emissions from production when they procure medicines for health care. Research has also been a prelude to the two government commissions that have led to the proposal from Sweden to the international guidelines for pharmaceutical production to also include environmental considerations.
– It’s uplifting to see how so many stakeholders in society, from healthcare to the Medicial products agency, pharmaceutical industry, water and sewerage sector and also our government take advantage of research findings and translate them into practical measures, says Joakim Larsson.
Besides the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg the following institutions are also involved in the research programme MistraPharma: Royal Institute of Technology (programme director Prof. Christina Ruden), Umeå University, Uppsala University, Stockholm University, Brunel University and Chalmers University of Technology.
Read more about MistraPharma on: www.mistrapharma.se
Read more about Joakim Larsson’s research
Contact Joakim Larsson, tel 031-768 3589, e-mail
