The United Nations scheduled a pivotal meeting to combat antibacterial resistance during its General Assembly session, in a move that some are calling a “wakeup call” in the war against deadly infections that kill thousands of people a year.

The meeting in New York, is part of the week-long General Assembly, which convenes leaders from around the globe. It is the first high-level global meeting on antibiotic resistance and only the fourth time that the General Assembly has taken up a healthcare issue, with other meetings focusing on outbreaks such as Ebola.

“The disturbing truth is that the end of the antibiotic era is upon us in many parts of the world. But we are not too late,” said Michael Craig, senior adviser for antibiotic resistance coordination and strategy for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “We need to continue to build on the momentum of our global commitment.”

Ahead of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) High-Level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), 13 leading pharmaceutical companies today presented a new roadmap that lays out four key commitments they will deliver by 2020 to reduce AMR. The commitments follow the principles identified and agreed upon in the Industry Declaration made at the 2016 World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this year, and reflect the companies’ intent to continue to proactively contribute to the global efforts to address AMR. This unprecedented collaboration between the pharmaceutical companies marks a major milestone in the fight against AMR.

In presenting this roadmap, the signatory companies claim to demonstrate their shared ambition to overcome the staggering threat AMR represents for our society, economies, and citizens. The companies say they are committed to working to reduce the development of antimicrobial resistance, improve access to high-quality antibiotics, vaccines, and diagnostics, invest in R&D, and collaborate with governments and stakeholders to sustain those investments.

They hope to ensure antibiotics are used only by patients who need them, recognizing this requires concerted efforts from many stakeholders, through continued provider and patient education, an examination of the companies’ promotional activities, sharing of surveillance data with public health bodies and healthcare professionals, and collaboration with stakeholders to reduce uncontrolled antibiotic purchase;

Companies that have signed up to the scheme include leaders in both branded and generic drug production, including Pfizer, Merck, Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline and Allergan, as well as Indian drugmakers Cipla and Wockhardt.

Johan S. Bakken MD, PhD, FIDSA, President, Infectious Diseases Society of America, said: “Infectious diseases (ID) physicians see firsthand the devastating impact of antimicrobial resistance on our patients and public health. We are out of treatment options for increasing numbers of patients. IDSA welcomes the commitment of industry to address AMR and invest in the research and development of urgently needed new antimicrobial drugs, diagnostics and vaccines. Robust public private collaboration is essential for effective solutions to AMR.”

Though the problem of drug-resistant bacteria has been a feature of medicine since the discovery of penicillin in 1928, it has grown in recent years with the emergence of infections resistant to multiple drugs, such as MRSA.