“Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world…” — Nelson Mandela
Dear All,
Regular readers will know my interest in developing the ecosystem of people who will work to address AMR over time (e.g., this interview with the founder of the Future Leaders Against AMR, my strong support for the annual ICARe course). Along these lines, I was delighted to see the Quadripartite agencies – the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH, founded as OIE) — announce a call for expressions of interest from youth engagement experts to serve on the Quadripartite Working Group on Youth Engagement for Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR). Per the released materials:
- “The objective of the Quadripartite Working Group on Youth Engagement for AMR is to guide the engagement of the Quadripartite with youth in order to harness the energy of this population in the global response to AMR.
- “The Working Group will build on existing work by Quadripartite agencies with youth in other contexts (e.g., UNEP’s Young Champions of the Earth; FAO’s Supporting Responsible Investments in Agriculture and Food Systems, RAI; WHO Youth Council) and will both feed into and learn from the work of the other Working Groups to ensure synergy.”
Organizations serving youth and/or representing youth themselves are encouraged to apply. Experts may be from youth-led organizations or youth-serving organizations. The functions of the Working Group are described in the Terms of Reference. I don’t see a specific definition for “youth” in the terms of reference (i.e., I don’t find an age cut-off), but the language suggests adolescents and young adults … and this would be consistent a definition used by the UN for youth: ages 15-24.
Great stuff … so very pleased to see it! Could this be you? To apply, send a cover letter along with a brief CV or personal profile to email address AMRAwareness@who.int. Applications are due by 11 June 2023.
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 (most current list is here)
- The AMR Action Fund is now open to proposals for funding of Phase 2 / Phase 3 antibacterial therapeutics. Per its charter, the fund prioritizes investment in treatments that address a pathogen prioritized by the WHO, the CDC and/or other public health entities that: (i) are novel (e.g., absence of known cross-resistance, novel targets, new chemical classes, or new mechanisms of action); and/or (ii) have significant differentiated clinical utility (e.g., differentiated innovation that provides clinical value versus standard of care to prescribers and patients, such as safety/tolerability, oral formulation, different spectrum of activity); and (iii) reduce patient mortality. It is also expected that such agents would have the potential to strongly address the likely requirements for delinked Pull incentives such as the UK (NHS England) subscription pilot and the PASTEUR Act in the US. Submit queries to contact@amractionfund.com.
- BARDA’s long-running BAA-18-100-SOL-00003 offers support for both antibacterial and antifungal agents. This BAA has offered 4 deadlines/year since 2018 … check the most current amendment for details.
- INCATE (Incubator for Antibacterial Therapies in Europe) is an early-stage funding vehicle supporting innovation vs. drug-resistant bacterial infections. The fund provides advice, community, and non-dilutive funding (€10k in Stage I and up to €250k in Stage II) to support early-stage ventures in creating the evidence and building the team needed to get next-level funding. Details and contacts on their website (https://www.incate.net/).
- These things aren’t sources of funds but would help you develop funding applications
- AiCuris’ AiCubator offers incubator support to very early stage projects. Read more about it here.
- The Global AMR R&D Hub’s dynamic dashboard (link) summarizes the global clinical development pipeline, incentives for AMR R&D, and investors/investments in AMR R&D.
- Diagnostic developers would find valuable guidance in this 6-part series on in vitro diagnostic (IVD) development. Sponsored by CARB-X, C-CAMP, and FIND, it pulls together real-life insights into a succinct set of tutorials.
- In addition to the lists provided by the Global AMR R&D Hub, you might also be interested in my 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):
- [NEW] 24 May 2023 (Geneva, 6.30-8.00p, Hotel Royal, Rue de Lausanne): Convened by the Center for Global Development (CGD), this in-person event is entitled “Towards the 2024 UNGA Declaration on Antimicrobial Resistance: Antimicrobial Procurement Systems that Meet All Countries’ Needs. With participation by Professor Dame Sally Davies, United Kingdom Special Envoy on Antimicrobial Resistance and Dr. Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, Acting Director, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, this looks like a valuable side event during the 21-30 May 2023 World Health Assembly! Go here to register.
- [NEW] 6 Jun 2023 (virtual, 2.30-4p BST, 9.30-11.00a EDT): Sponsored by the AMR Industry Alliance, this webinar will be the launch event for the upcoming global Antimicrobial Resistance Certification process that builds on AMRAI’s June 2022 Antibiotic Manufacturing Standard for antibiotic discharge targets. Administered by the British Standards Institute (BSI), this certification process will provide a mechanism for antibiotic manufacturers to demonstrate compliance with the Antibiotic Manufacturing Standard. Go here to register.
- [NEW] 10 Jun 2023 (Virtual, 3-5.30p India Standard Time): Sponsored by the AMR Declaration Trust, a webinar entitled “Engaging the Pharmaceutical Industry in Joint Efforts to Tackle Antimicrobial Resistance.” Thinking globally and acting locally, this webinar will be a conversation about the global pipeline with a focus on ideas for action in India. Go here to register.
- 3-5 Jul 2023 (Tours, France): 9th Symposium on Antimicrobial Resistance in Animals and the Environment (ARAE). Sponsored by INRAE (French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment, itself a merger of merger of INRA, the French National Institute for Agricultural Research, and IRSTEA, the French National Research Institute of Science and Technology for the Environment and Agriculture), this conference has been running since 2005. Go here for details.
- 19-22 Sep 2023 (Boston, USA): ASM-ESCMID Joint Conference on Drug Development to Meet the Challenge of Antimicrobial Resistance. This is an excellent development focused meeting … highly recommended! Go here for details and to register.
- 7-15 Oct 2023 (residential, Annecy, France): ICARe, the Interdisciplinary Course on Antibiotics and Resistance. Now in its 7th year, this course is a deep-dive into the world of antibiotic development. Intense, rigorous, and HIGHLY recommended. Seats are always limited … apply sooner rather than later! Go here for details.
- [PIPELINE SUBMISSION DEADLINE EXTENDED to 31 MAY] 11-15 Oct 2023 (Boston, USA): IDWeek 2023, the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Go here for details and to register. Also note that there is a call for IDWeek Pipeline submissions with a deadline of 31 May 2023: “Submit Your Novel Antimicrobial Agents or Diagnostic Technologies: Companies are invited to submit antimicrobials that are in preclinical stages of development (Phase II and III preferred) or were approved after January 2023 for a pipeline session at IDWeek that will include antibacterials, antifungals and antivirals (excluding COVID-19 and HIV). Companies developing novel diagnostic technologies with a minimum of some preliminary proof of concept data may submit as well.”
- 20-23 Oct 2023 (Athens, Greece): 11th TIMM (Trends in Medical Mycology). Go here for details.
- 27-30 April 2024 (Barcelona, Spain): 34th ECCMID, the annual meeting of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. Go here for details.