Dear All,
As you know, WHO has been driving a series of clinical and preclinical pipeline reviews (go here for my current master list of pipeline reviews, including links to the 2017 and 2019 WHO reviews).
In support of the next iteration of this review process, WHO have now posted (go here) a Geneva-based consultancy that runs 1 May until 30 December 2020 (8 months). if you dig a bit, find this description of the role:
‘Under the supervision of the Impact Initiates and Research Coordination (IRC) unit in the GCP department in WHO headquarters, the consultant will perform the following function:
- Support the work of the unit in implementing the global action plan on antimicrobial resistance strategic objective five in the area research and development priority setting for antimicrobial resistance;
- Coordinate the collection and collation of data on the preclinical and clinical antibacterial pipeline by WHO external consultants in preparation for the 2020 clinical antibacterial pipeline advisory group meeting;
- Support the unit in the preparation and delivery of the 2020 clinical antibacterial pipeline advisory group meeting;
- Support the unit in developing the WHO 2020 clinical antibacterial pipeline update publication and updating the 2020 clinical and pre-clinical pipeline data in the WHO Public Health R&D Observatory; and
- Assist the unit in other research and development priority setting to combat antimicrobial resistance including furthering the antifungal priority research agenda and the review of the vaccine pipeline”
Could this be you? Proposals for this interesting consultancy should be submitted to antibacterialpipeline@who.int by 7 April 2020 17.00 Geneva time with the following:
- Expression of interest (cover letter); and
- WHO Stellis profile (https://careers.who.int/careersection/ex/) or CV.
All best wishes, –jr
John 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 opinions are my own.
Current funding opportunities:
- Open now through 16 Mar 2020: CC4CARB, NIAID’s call for applications to fund an innovative Chemistry Center for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (CC4CARB). Go here for details.
- Open now through 9 Apr 2020: NIAID Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) soliciting contract proposals for preclinical and clinical development of vaccines, therapeutic, and diagnostics for microbial pathogens. Go here for more.
- Dates for the 2020 funding rounds for Novo REPAIR Impact Fund will be announced May 2020. Go here for current details.
- 2020 funding rounds for CARB-X have not been announced.
Upcoming meetings of interest to the AMR community:
- [CANCELLED] 16-17 Mar 2020 (London): BSAC Spring Conference entitled: “Bridging the gap between science, policy and effective antimicrobial use.” Go here for details.
- [POSTPONED, new date TBD] 20 Mar 2020 (Boston, MA): 7th annual BAARN (Boston Area Antimicrobial Resistance Network) Meeting. Chaired by Lawson Ung and Michael Gilmore, talks start at 9 am and end with a reception at the Harvard Museum of Natural History. Go here to register; you can also contact Lawson Ung (lawson_ung@meei.harvard.edu) for other inquiries.
- [NEW] 25 Mar 2020 (online): NHS England is holding two webinars on its pilot procurement project. The webinars have the same content, the first is for suppliers (10a-noon UK) and the second is for interested stakeholders (1-3p UK). Go here for a prior newsletter on the project. Details on how to attend the webinars are not yet posted — for now, just mark your calendar.
- 26 Mar 2020 (online, 17:00-18:30 CET): GARDP REVIVE webinar. Title: “Probability of target attainment analyses for dose selection in antimicrobial drug development,” Speaker: Shampa Das. Go here to register.
- [CANCELLED] 26-30 Mar 2020 (Atlanta, GA): CDC- and SHEA-sponsored 6th International Conference on Healthcare Associated Infections. Go here for details.
- 30 Mar 2020 (everywhere): Deadline for applications for the Molecular Mycology pathogenesis course at Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole. Now in its 24th year, the hands-on residential course runs 17 July to 2 Aug and gets rave reviews. Go here for more.
- 9 Apr 2020 (everywhere): Final date for applications for NIAID/DMID call (link) for AMR-related vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics.
- [ATTEMPTING TO GO VIRTUAL] 17 Apr 2020 (Paris): Pre-ECCMID workshop entitled “Machine Learning for Clinical Microbiology”. Go here for details.
- [ATTEMPTING TO GO VIRTUAL] 18-21 Apr 2020 (Paris): Annual ECCMID meeting (#30)
- 28 Apr 2020 (online, 17:00-18:30 CEST): GARDP REVIVE webinar. Title: “Inhaled antimicrobials: Do we get the drug to the bug?” Speaker: Harm A. W. M. Tiddens. Go here to register.
- 5 May 2020 (online, 09:00-10:30 CEST): GARDP REVIVE webinar. Title: “The challenges and opportunities for antimicrobial R&D in low- and middle-income countries – India case study.” Speaker: Anand Anandkumar. Go here to register.
- [NEW] 7 May 2020 (Silver Spring): FDA workshop entitled “Development Considerations of Antifungal Drugs to Address Unmet Medical Need.” Go here to register.
- [note the now-announced 7 May companion workshop] 8 May 2020 (Silver Spring): FDA workshop entitled “Developing Antifungal Drugs for the Treatment of Coccidiodomycosis (Valley Fever) Infection.” Go here to register.
- 25-30 May 2020 (Rotterdam), Annual ESPID meeting (European Society for Pediatric ID, #38)
- 18-22 Jun 2020 (Chicago), ASM Microbe 2020. Go here for details.
- 27-28 Jun 2020 (Bryant University, Rhode Island): Drug Resistance Gordon Research Seminar entitled “Mechanisms and Approaches to Overcoming Drug Resistance in Cancer, Infectious Disease and Agriculture” for graduate students and postdoctoral scientists. Go here for details … this immediately precedes the GRC listed just next
- 28 Jun-3 Jul 2020 (Bryant University, Rhode Island): Gordon Research Conference (GRC) entitled “Strategies to Disrupt Drug Resistance in Infectious Disease, Cancer and Agriculture.” Go here for details.
- [NEW] 17 Jul-2 Aug 2020 (Marine Biology Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA): Residential course entitled “Molecular Mycology: Current Approaches to Fungal Pathogenesis.” This 2-week intensive training program has run annually for many years and gets outstanding reviews. Go here for details.
- 2-7 Aug 2020 (Il Ciocco, Tuscany, Italy): Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Antibacterial Discovery and Development: “Now is the time to re-boot antibiotic R&D before it’s too little, too late.” Go here for details.
- 24-25 Aug 2020 (Basel): BEAM-, Novo REPAIR-, CARB-X-, DZIF-, ND4BB-, ENABLE-supported (among a long list!) Conference on Novel Antimicrobials and AMR Diagnostics. Details are here.
- September 2020. University of Sheffield (UK). Applications are being taken for a new 1-year (full-time) or 2-year (part-time) Masters of Science course in Antimicrobial Resistance. The program runs annually from September and covers microbiology, clinical practice and policy. The course webpage is here.
- 1-4 Sep 2020 (Dublin): Annual ASM-ESCMID Conference on Antibiotic Development #5! Mark your calendar now and go here for details.
- 9-10 Sep 2020 (Washington, DC): US PACCARB public meeting. Go here for details.
- 22-25 Sep 2020 (Albuquerque, New Mexico): Biannual meeting of the MSGERC (Mycoses Study Group Education and Research Consortium). Save-the-date announcement is here, details to follow.
- [REGISTRATION OPENS SOON] 17-25 Oct 2020 (Annecy, France): Interdisciplinary Course on Antibiotics and Resistance (ICARe). This is a soup-to-nuts residential course on antibiotics, antibiotic resistance, and antibiotic R&D. The course is very intense, very detailed, and gets rave reviews. The date is set for 2020 and the program will ultimately appear here. Registration is limited to 40 students and opens 15 Mar 2020.
- 10-13 Apr 2021 (Vienna): Annual ECCMID meeting (#31)
- 3-7 Jun 2021 (Anaheim), ASM Microbe 2021. Go here for details.
