7. Antibiotic trajectories: exploring global connections of antibiotic production and distribution
Heidi E. Fjeld, University of Oslo; Mingyuan Zhang, University of Oslo
Posted: February 28, 2022 Accepted Languages: English/Inglés/Inglês
Since the mid-1990s, there have been significant shifts in the global production and distribution of antibiotics and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), from previously being dominated by pharmaceutical companies in Europe and North America, to the present pattern of production predominantly in India and China, reflecting general trends of the interconnected global economy. Different from other global objects, the circulation of antibiotics is controlled by specific regulations due to the wide usage in human medicine, stock breeding, agriculture and aquaculture, as well as the potential of inducing antimicrobial resistance. In this open panel we explore global antibiotic trajectories as they have evolved after these major shifts in production and distribution. We ask: from where and how do antibiotics travel and who and what is involved in shaping these travels? Following the drugs and their active pharmaceutical ingredients, we aim to investigate emerging global antibiotic entanglements and their wider biological, material, social, and political implications. We suggest using ‘trajectories’ as an analytical approach, allowing us to bring the global connections into focus and to emphasize the regulatory acts involved in the (often disrupted) global and local flows of antibiotics.
We invite contributions from both contemporary and historical perspectives that shed light on antibiotic trajectories, from any part of the world, on any scale. We particularly welcome empirical cases focusing on the production, distribution, and circulation of antibiotics and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), including processes of manufacturing, packaging, transporting, importing/exporting, storaging, registering, and regulating these objects.
