Dear All,
The WHO is looking for a consultant to develop a campaign to prevent non-prescription antibiotic sales! This 4-month contract sounds intriguing to say the least. This position is tied into (and culminates with) the annual World AMR Awareness Week — it’s interesting to see how the WHO is working to prevent this problem! Lots of creativity in our community happening in this regard!
The ideal candidate can be located anywhere! Applicants need a degree in public health, health policy, or another related field. In terms of experience needed, at least 5 years in developing and implementing public health policy research, advocacy campaigns in public health, and evidence synthesis on issues of public health importance and/or preparation of policy briefs/reports.
Anyone who applies needs to have familiarity with AMR, current laws and regulations related to antibiotic sales as this is the core of the campaign to be designed. Knowledge of health policy and the pharmaceutical regulatory landscape in lower middle income countries is also needed. Proficiency in conducting thorough public health policy research to identify best practices, precedents and evidence-based approaches and the ability to take that research and turn it into clear and lay-friendly messages and narratives for the campaign is a must.
The detailed list of deliverables for the contract are below my signature. Deadline for applications is 28 July 2023 but the precise hour will vary based on the time zone of the device you apply from. Please look at all the details of the posting and share it with anyone you think might be interested!
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.
- Conduct a draft review of policies on dispensing antibiotics without prescriptions (e.g., bills, acts, laws, decrees and regulations) in 15-20 countries across the WHO regions. The review should comprehensively examine the legislative and regulatory frameworks guiding the sale and dispensing of antibiotics. Additionally it should draw insights from available evidence and jurisdictions from Member States and country partners by 15 September 2023
- Contribute to developing a draft gap analysis that identifies gaps in specific national contexts and also discusses the common issues and efforts needed to fill gaps in general by 30 September 2023
- Facilitate the development of the integrated report of the policy review and the gap analysis. Contribute to developing, synthesizing challenges, limitations and loopholes, and provide suggestions for development of the global campaign taking into account deliberations at the workshop by 30 October 2023
- Facilitate the organization of the global two-day workshop for the campaign to be held in Geneva, Switzerland by 30 September 2023
- Facilitate the finalization of the report of the global campaign workshop.
- Contribute to drafting the campaign guide by15 November 2023
- Facilitate the development of three fact sheets (one per target audience). Each fact sheet will be a short synthesis of evidence related to antibiotic sales and key take-away messages for the campaign by 10 November 2023
- Facilitate the development of five to ten social media assets and contribute to design from an external communications supplier by 31 October 2023
- Contribute to organizing a virtual / hybrid launch of the campaign organized during World AMR Awareness Week (WAAW) by 24 November 2023
- Contribute to the development of the summary report, including proposed campaign activities to feed into the 2024 roadmap leading up to the UN HLM on AMR by 15 December 2023
Current funding opportunities (most current list is here)
- The AMR Industry Alliance has announced that applications are again open for its annual Stewardship Prize. The Alliance began the Stewardship Prize in 2021 to identify and support innovative approaches to combatting antimicrobial resistance in low-to-moderate-income countries — the winning application receives CHF 10,000. Applications close September 1, 2023; go here to see past winners and here to apply.
- 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):
- 4-6 Aug 2023 (Bangkok, Thailand): The regional Medical Mycology Training Network Conference by ISHAM’s Asia Fungal Working Group is set to feature both hands-on workshops and clinical sessions for all those managing and working with invasive fungal infections. 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.
- 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.
- 20-23 Oct 2023 (Athens, Greece): 11th TIMM (Trends in Medical Mycology). Go here for details.
- 6-7 Feb 2024 (online): Antimicrobial Chemotherapy Conference. This is an annual, free of charge conference that is co-organized by GARDP and the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC). Details to follow — for now, just mark your calendar.
- 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.
