The musical has already achieved critical acclaim from runs at the Edinburgh Fringe and achieved off-Broadway success. In 2024, it became the first musical ever performed on the floor of the United Nations (UN). This is because LIFELINE (which is supported by the Healthcare Communications Association, British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy and other pharmaceutical- and healthcare-related organisations) carries a hugely important message for everybody – that antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the most urgent global health threats of our time.

The musical weaves together Sir Alexander Fleming’s groundbreaking discovery of penicillin with the story of Jess, a junior doctor navigating the pressures of an overstretched NHS while her childhood sweetheart fights a drug-resistant infection. Its aim, and indeed success so far, has come from bringing this important topic into stories about everyday lives, using the extraordinary power of the Arts to move hearts and minds, encouraging us all to act quickly.

The WHO calls AMR one of the top global public health and development threats, and suggests that, by 2023, one in six bacterial infections worldwide were resistant to antibiotics, with resistance increasing year-on-year. We have always known of the risks. In 1945, Fleming himself cautioned about the risk of underdosing and exposing microbes to non-lethal quantities of the drug, thereby making them resistant. And yet we have increasingly used antibiotics in food production, which has contributed significantly to AMR.

It might be easy to switch off at this point because your company or clients are not involved in the manufacture or marketing of antibiotics. But AMR affects the whole healthcare ecosystem. It will affect you and your family, should you ever have the misfortune to contract a resistant infection. And with the need for antibiotic innovation and stewardship being so great, shouldn’t your company – with its amazing resources and expertise – be contributing to relevant R&D or perhaps infection reduction initiatives?

Many of the therapy areas we work in can be impacted by AMR. The most obvious being anything involving surgical procedures and conditions where patients become more vulnerable to infection directly, or from the treatments they need – chemotherapy or immunosuppressants, for example. But any resistant infection can delay a treatment pathway, increase complications, reduce success and ultimately lead to premature death. As well as the human impact, the financial and resource burden on already-stretched health systems is significant, draining money that could perhaps otherwise be spent on new innovative medicines.

Health systems and regulatory authorities have certainly recognised AMR as a priority consideration and may request infection-related endpoints for non-antibiotic drugs or interventions. They may also favour organisations that show good stewardship and awareness of AMR. So, considering infection and AMR, whatever your therapy area, it’s not just good ethically, it potentially makes good business sense as well.

My singing lesson obviously paid off as I was invited to join the chorus of 60 who will perform across the five-week run of LIFELINE. At the first rehearsal I found myself alongside a diverse group of people, all associated with AMR in some way. From infectious disease consultants, professors and nursing staff, to researchers, pharmaceutical executives, NHS managers and NGOs. Also represented were patient groups campaigning and supporting those affected by AMR, including some who had experienced the human impact of AMR directly themselves. If I had been unclear why the message LIFELINE delivers is so important, hearing some real-life stories of those present – whose so-called routine healthcare interventions nearly ended tragically due to a resistant infection – reminded me why I chose to work in the healthcare sector.