ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE SOLUTIONS
WITH DR. JOHN H. REX
Latest Newsletters
Dear All:NIAID/DMID have released their 2027 Omnibus Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) entitled "Development of Medical Interventions for Infectious Diseases." The key starting point is this link: https://sam.gov/workspace/contract/opp/5f75330f42ee4145990fe6a51a3dc84e/view.Much of this BAA is antiviral but Research Area 2.4 is on point for this newsletter's audience. The call here is to "improve patient outcomes against serious infectious diseases for which there are no approved therapeutics, or for those that are refractory to treatment despite appropriate antimicrobial therapy or due to pathogen resistance" by developing therapeutics for:At least two of the following (i.e., addressed with a broad spectrum antimicrobial):Susceptible and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE),Susceptible and multidrug resistant (MDR) Pseudomonas aeruginosaSusceptible and Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter (CRAB)Candida aurisCryptococcus spp.,Aspergillus fumigatusMucorales Also in scope are "adjunct medical interventions to support or enhance effectiveness of antimicrobial agents to address underlying pathology that is not resolved after clearance of pathogens."Many thanks to the team at DMID for continuing to create research opportunities here! Proposals are due by 8 Dec 2026 at 3:00 PM Eastern Time. Sharpen your pencils!All best wishes, --jrJohn H. Rex, MD | Chief Medical Officer, F2G Ltd. | Operating Partner, Advent Life Sciences. Follow me on Twitter: @JohnRex_NewAbx. See past newsletters and subscribe for the future: https://amr.solutions/blog/. All...
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Latest Government Action
Dear All:As discussed in prior newsletters, BARDA is constantly working to ensure it has adequate medical countermeasures (MCMs) for a variety of possible threats. The titles of these newsletters give a quick review of their recent work -- note in particular the Fireside Chat and the newsletter discussing the ongoing BAA (Broad Agency Announcement) for antibacterial and antifungal MCMs:22 July 2025: "BARDA RFP: Antibiotic for HABP/VABP or Bloodstream Infection"5 Nov 2024: "BARDA seeks deep insight on antibacterials near/beyond end-of-Phase 2"26 Sep 2023: "BARDA Medical Countermeasures BAA: Substantial updates"12 Nov 2023: "Fireside Chat with BARDA’s Branch Chief for Antimicrobials"Continuing with their theme of seeking to understand what's available (and possibly procure products for a government stockpile), we have today the announcement by BARDA of this RFI (Request For Information):Title: "Medical Countermeasures for the Treatment of Drug-Resistant Fungal Infections"Notice ID (link to webpage and detailed RFI document): RFI-MCM-TDRFI-BARDA-2026Concept: "... gain information regarding first-in-class antifungals in development for the treatment of drug-resistant Candida species, including Candida auris, and/or drug-resistant Aspergillus species."Scope: "First-in-class small molecule or peptide-based antifungals that are currently in Phase 2 clinical trials or beyond (e.g., including FDA- or EMA-approved)."Due date: 21 June 2026While this is not a funding round (see...
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R&D Insight
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Can you help?
Dear All,I have just learned that Lifeline, the musical formerly known as The Mould that Changed the World, is seeking scientists, medics, and healthcare professionals to be part of the cast for a portion of a planned 5-week off-Broadway run of the show around the time of the High-Level Meeting (HLM) on AMR at UNGA 2024 in New York City...
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Antimicrobial resistance poses a catastrophic threat. If we don’t act now, any one of us could go into hospital in 20 years for minor surgery and die because of an ordinary infection that can’t be treated by antibiotics. And routine operations like hip replacements or organ transplants could be deadly because of the risk of infection.
AMR Fireside Chats
1/19 videos
1
Episode 18 w/Robin Hiley- Fireside Chat
19:48
2
Episode 17 w/ Ella Balasa and Rob Purdie of WHO Task Force of AMR Survivors - AMR Fireside Chat
38:24
3
Episode 16 w/ Ramanan Laxminarayan, PhD - AMR Fireside Chat
32:59
4
Episode 15 w/ Mark Albrecht, PhD - AMR Fireside Chat
43:55
5
Episode 14 w/ Lynn Silver - AMR Fireside Chat
56:23
6
Episode 13 w/ Kevin Outterson - AMR Fireside Chat
30:01
7
Episode 12 w/ Tina Joshi, PhD - AMR Fireside Chat
34:22
8
Episode 11 w/ Martin Heidecker - AMR Fireside Chat
32:31
9
Episode 10 w/ Anna Govett - AMR Fireside Chat
14:54
10
Episode 9 w/ Fatema Rafiqi, PhD - AMR Fireside Chat
34:10
11
Episode 8 w/ Ghada Zoubiane, PhD - AMR Fireside Chat
35:04
12
Episode 7 w/ Trevor Lithgow, PhD - AMR Fireside Chat
35:41
13
AMR Snapshots: Episode 2 - John Rex (Editor-In-Chief, AMR.Solutions)
26:25
14
Episode 6 w/ Maryn McKenna - AMR Fireside Chat
45:50
15
Episode 5 w/ Christine Årdal - AMR Fireside Chat
43:44
16
Episode 4 w/ Peter Beyer - AMR Fireside Chat
39:21
17
Episode 3 w/ Kevin Outterson - AMR Fireside Chat
11:45
18
Episode 2 w/ Henry Skinner, PhD - AMR Fireside Chat
15:44
19
Episode 1 w/ Kevin Outterson - AMR Fireside Chat
52:56
How hard (and how) to Pull? Net value of Pull via a Transferrable Exclusivity Extension (TEE)
Dear All (wonkish alert … get your coffee!), EFPIA have recently released a report estimating the value of a Transferable Exclusivity Extension (TEE, report, press ...
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De-risking vaccine development: Insights spanning decades of experience
Dear All (with thanks to Vega Masignani for co-authoring this newsletter), While the work needed to create new antibacterial agents is the primary topic of ...
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Reimbursing for innovative antibiotics / Encouraging updates from the AMR conference
Dear All (with thanks to Kevin as the lead author on this note and also with a wonkish note alert … refresh your coffee and ...
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FDA and EMA regulatory updates / Fireside chat during the 4th AMR Conference
Dear All (lots and lots of wonkish detail here, be sure your blood caffeine level is adequate!), During the 24-28 Aug 2020 BEAM Alliance-sponsored AMR Conference ...
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Non-traditional antibiotics: A pipeline review and an analysis of key development challenges
Dear All, Non-traditional alternatives to antibiotics have excited a lot of interest in the past few years but we’ve seen relatively few of these progress ...
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Novel Biology, Novel Utility, & the Illusion of Skill: What to develop? What to reward?
Dear All (wonk-ish note alert and also with particular thanks as always to Kevin Outterson for helping to refine this newsletter): Sparked at least in ...
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In Praise of Non-Inferiority
Dear All (wonkish but intended for everybody to read and absorb): 27 Jan 2021 update: This topic now has its own YouTube video! As the ...
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Melinta goes bankrupt / Never let a good crisis go to waste
Dear All (long-ish, wonk-ish note alert … lots of details to absorb): This newsletter has a followup here. Sadly, Melinta Therapeutics, Inc. declared bankruptcy just ...
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The 6 meanings of “Lack of Access” (UNSLAP)
Dear All, We often talk about the problem of lack of access to new antibiotics. In late 2021, for example, we explored data showing that multi-year ...
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DTR Gram-negative infections: Are new antibiotics making a difference?
Dear All (and with thanks to Aaron Dane for co-authoring this newsletter AND inhale, exhale … this is going to be a long, wonkish, but VERY ...
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FDA: Early endpoints and late endpoints suggest a path to global regulatory convergence (Bart et al.)
Dear All (wonkish note alert … top-up your coffee and settle in!), Today we have a tour of a recent paper in Clinical Infectious Diseases ...
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Modeling the value of an effective antibiotic — Megiddo et al.
Dear All: I have previously written about the challenge of applying health technology assessment (HTA) to estimate the monetary value of an effective antibiotic: To my knowledge, ...
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The thoughtless person playing with penicillin treatment is morally responsible for the death of the man who succumbs to infection with the penicillin-resistant organism.
The bipartisan PASTEUR Act is the strongest bill ever written to strengthen antibiotic development and use. It will fix our market failures, expand the pipeline for next generation antibiotics, and save lives. We can’t sit on our hands as this public health crisis arrives – we have to act now.
Summaries
Notes: Newsflash ... BARDA have...
Aside: If you've enjoyed the...
See also This related newsletter:...
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Dear All (Wonkish alert! Coffee-up!),Today...