Dear All, Today we have a bit of a potpourri for WAAW (World Antibiotic Awareness Week). Lots of good stuff…
In the new meetings category, we have two meetings for investors seeking social impact:
- 23 Nov 2020 (online, 6-7p CET): Webinar sponsored by Access to Medicine Foundation (ATM) entitled “The Materiality of Superbugs: Investor Action on Antimicrobial Resistance.” Co-hosted by ATM with the FAIRR Initiative, the Principles for Responsible Investment initiative (PRI), and the UK Dept of Health & Social Care (link), the webinar will build on Jan 2020 launch of the Investor Action on AMR Initiative. Go here to register.
- 25 Nov 2020 (online, 3-4p CET): Webinar sponsored by the Impact for Breakfast Club (IFB; yes, that really is the name!) entitled “Antimicrobial Resistance as a Global Health Security Crisis – and Investment Opportunity.” IFB is an informal group of investors seeking to social impact through their work. Go here for full details and to register.
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In the category of things to read or listen to, we have:
- The Uppsala Antibiotic Center have released a podcast entitled “AMR, Human Behaviour & the Uppsala Health Summit.” This group has done a series of fun podcasts (e.g., see this newsletter for notes on one that I did with them) and this WAAW edition focuses on how we can build and maintain interest in the challenge of AMR.
- From the Land Down Under, we have an economic report investigating the cost of UTIs in Australia! I would never have guessed it, but UTIs cost Australia ~AUD 900m/year, with about AUD 600m of that spent on hospitalization! As the 25m people in Australia are ~0.3% of the global population, you can see how the costs of this one infection rise quickly … and things will only get worse with resistance.
- The REVIVE project at GARDP has released an online antimicrobial encyclopedia that covers everything from ADME to WHO Priority Pathogens. Check it out!
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And in the category of things to see…
The team at the EU JAMRAI project (Joint Action on Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare-Associated Infections) ran a contest to design an Antibiotic Resistance Symbol. The winner is shown at right. Go to this description for more; this tweet is also a good way to see it. In brief, two heart-shaped symbols are interlaced to give us red antibiotic capsules crossing white band-aids! CLEVER!
And we close with this tweet that offers a visual lesson in Push and Pull incentives. Definitely go look at it … words fail me!
Stay safe! –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 (most current list is here):
- The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Applicant Assistance Program (AAP) opens on October 22, 2020. This program provides no cost support for companies planning to apply for a Phase II, Fast Track, or Direct-to-Phase II SBIR or STTR Award. Go here for details.
- Novo REPAIR Impact Fund closed its most recent round on 31 Jul 2020. Go here for current details.
- Future funding rounds for CARB-X have not yet been announced.
- The Global AMR R&D Hub’s dynamic dashboard (link) summarizes funders and projects by geography, stage, and more.
- It’s not a funder, but AiCuris’ AiCubator offers incubator support to very early stage projects. Read more about it here.
- ARLG (Antibiotic Resistance Leadership Group, link) is currently open for applications for its 2-year ARLG Fellowship program. The application deadline is 1 Dec 2020; full details are here.
- Finally, you might also be interested in the most current lists of R&D incentives (link) and priority pathogens (link)
Upcoming meetings of interest to the AMR community (most current list is here):
- 18-24 Nov 2020 (everywhere): World Antimicrobial Awareness Week. For resources, go here for WHO’s home page for the week. The focus will be on two messages: “Antimicrobials: handle with care” and “United to preserve antimicrobials.”
- 20-22 Nov 2020 (online, 13:00-18:00 GMT: Global AMR Youth Summit sponsored by the World Health Students’ Alliance (WHSA). Go here to register.
- 20 Nov 2020 (online, 10:30a-noon CET): GARDP-sponsored webinar entitled “Saving childrens’ lives – treating neonatal sepsis” moderated by Peter Beyer (Senior Advisor on AMR, WHO). Go here to register.
- [NEW] 23 Nov 2020 (online, 6-7p CET): Webinar sponsored by Access to Medicine Foundation (ATM) entitled “The Materiality of Superbugs: Investor Action on Antimicrobial Resistance.” Co-hosted by ATM with the FAIRR Initiative, the Principles for Responsible Investment initiative (PRI), and the UK Dept of Health & Social Care (link), the webinar will build on Jan 2020 launch of the Investor Action on AMR Initiative. Go here to register.
- [NEW] 25 Nov 2020 (online, 3-4p CET): Webinar sponsored by the Impact for Breakfast Club (IFB) entitled “Antimicrobial Resistance as a Global Health Security Crisis – and Investment Opportunity.” IFB is an informal group of investors seeking to achieve social impact through their work. Go here for full details and to register.
- 2 Dec 2020 (online, 3 sessions spanning 5am-5.15p GMT): Global AMR Hub-sponsored conference entitled “Translating AMR R&D mapping into policy and action.” Go here for the full program
- 5-7.15a GMT: “Identifying research gaps to address antimicrobial resistance relevant to the Asia Pacific Region”
- Noon-2.15p GMT: Filling AMR R&D gaps in animal health at country, regional and global level
- 3p-5.15p GMT: Working together to fill AMR R&D gaps – collaboration and partnerships
- 3 Dec 2020 (online, 9-10:30a CET; 5-6:30p KST): Multi-sponsored webinar entitled “Evidence to Action – Advancing the Antimicrobial Resistance agenda during a pandemic.” Go here to register. Co-hosted by the International Vaccine Institute (IVI), the International Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance Solutions (ICARS), and the Embassy of Denmark in Korea, this webinar includes Dame Sally, Hanan Balkhy (WHO), and the Minster of Health from both South Korea and Denmark!
- 26-28 Jan 2021 (online, runs ~7.30a-5.00p Central each day): 4th Annual Texas Medical Center Antimicrobial Resistance and Stewardship Conference. Sponsored by McGovern Medical School, ARLG, and the Gulf Coast Consortia, the agenda includes both poster sessions and keynotes. The call for abstracts closes 18 Dec 2020. Go here for more details.
- 10-12 Mar 2021 (Stellenbosch, South Africa): The University of Cape Town’s H3D Research Centre will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a symposium covering the Centre’s research on Malaria, TB, Neglected Tropical Diseases, and AMR. Go here to register; abstract deadline is 15 Nov 2020.
- 9-12 Jul 2021 (Vienna): Annual ECCMID meeting (#31)
- 18-21 May 2021 (Albuquerque, New Mexico): Biannual meeting of the MSGERC (Mycoses Study Group Education and Research Consortium). Save-the-date announcement is here, details to follow.
- 20-24 June 2021 (Toronto): International Symposium on Pneumococci and Pneumococcal Diseases (ISPPD-12). Go here for details.
- 3-7 Jun 2021 (Anaheim), ASM Microbe 2021. Go here for details.
- 27 Jun-2 Jul 2021 (Ventura, CA): Gordon Research Conference entitled “Antimicrobial Peptides”. Go here for details, go here for the linked 26-27 Jun Gordon Research Seminar that precedes it.
- 5-21 Aug 2021 (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.
- 8-11 Oct 2021 (Aberdeen, Scotland): 10th Trends in Medical Mycology. Go here for details.
- 16-24 Oct 2021 (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. Registration is here and is limited to 40 students. Bonus feature: For obvious reasons, the course didn’t happen in 2020! But as a celebration of the course’s 5th year, a webinar version was held on 29 Oct 2020: go here to stream it.
- 6-11 Mar 2022 (Il Ciocco, Tuscany): Gordon Research Conference entitled “New Antibacterial Discovery and Development”. Go here for details, go here for the linked 5-6 Mar Gordon Research Seminar that precedes it.
