Dear All,
Back in 2022, I wrote a newsletter about the World Health Organization putting out a call to form a Task Force of AMR Survivors. The Task Force of Antimicrobial Resistance Survivors was established last October and its members have been busy ever since!
There are currently 12 members, each serving 2 years, and they hail from all over the globe. They kicked off their work with a meeting in Geneva last October and have been putting out quarterly reports about their efforts (Jan-Mar 2024 and April-June 2024). From the “Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is invisible. I am not.” campaign to speaking at the UNGA HLM on AMR to attending a wide variety of events, every member of the Task Force has been actively putting a face to the problem of AMR.
They’ve also published a white paper entitled “Meaningful Engagement of Patients, Survivors and Carers in Addressing Antimicrobial Resistance“ which seeks to promote antimicrobial resistance advocacy by being a “guide technical experts and policy-makers in identifying opportunities for meaningful engagement of survivors and people with lived experience of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to advance international, national and local AMR agendas.”
Two of the Task Force members, Ella Balasa and Rob Purdie, agreed to sit down with me to discuss their experience as part of the Task Force. As you’ll learn by listening to the video, Ella has cystic fibrosis and Rob has Disseminated Coccidioidomycosis, aka Valley Fever. They both have experienced terrifying infections and, without the right antibiotics at the right time, they could easily not be here to share their stories.
I really want to encourage you to take time to watch the video. It’s one thing to read my summary, it is another to hear their voices!
Now that you’ve listened to the video (hint, hint!), I think you’ll agree that both Rob and Ella put a human face on the problem of AMR in a vivid and compelling way. Quoting numerical evidence about the AMR is also needed (e.g., “Without action, AMR costs go from $66b to $159b/yr by 2050”), but a real story about a real person creates emotional connections that transcend the data.
A further takeaway from from our chat is that the Task Force is just an email away. Each member’s email address is listed on the main site because they want to be resources for anyone who feels just as passionately about antimicrobial resistance. If you want to talk to one of them, check out who lives near you and send them a message!
And while we’re on this topic, let me remind you of IDSA’s excellent collection of patient stories in their “The Faces of Antimicrobial Resistance” monograph. Thirteen stories and great graphics … well worth your time. Post-newsletter addendum: There is also a great collection of stories collected by the Peggy Lillis C. diff Foundation that you can access at at https://cdiff.org/plf-stories/.
Thanks, Ella and Rob! Looking forward to seeing what the Task Force achieves in the future! Keep up the amazing work!
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. All opinions are my own.
John’s Top Recurring Meetings
Virtual meetings are easy to attend, but regular attendance at annual in-person events is the key to building your network and gaining deeper insight. My personal favorites for such in-person meetings are below. Of particular value for developers are the AMR Conference and the ASM-ESCMID conference. Hope to see you there!
- 25-26 February 2025 (Basel, Switzerland): The 9th AMR Conference 2025. Go here to register!
- 11-15 April 2025 (Vienna, Austria): ESCMID Global 2025, the annual meeting of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. Go here for details.
- (no date as yet) 2025 ASM/ESCMID Joint Conference on Drug Development to Meet the Challenge of Antimicrobial Resistance. Go here to see details of the outstanding 2024 meeting!
- 19-22 Oct 2025 (Georgia, USA): IDWeek 2025, the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Details pending; go here for the general meeting website.
Upcoming meetings of interest to the AMR community:
- [NEW] 18-24 Nov 2024 (everywhere): World AMR/Antibiotic Awareness Week. Events are happening globally. I can’t show them all … you should do a search of the form “MyCountry World AMR Awareness week.” As examples, see the summary webpages from WHO, the US CDC, the European CDC, and the Australian Safety and Quality Commission!
- 4-5 Dec 2024 (in person, Washington, DC): “Fungal Dx 2024: Fungal Diagnostics in Clinical Practice” is a 2-day in-person workshop organized by ISHAM‘s Fungal Diagnostics Working Group. The program and registration links are available at https://fungaldx.com/; the agenda is comprehensive and features an all-star global list of speakers.
- 28-29 Jan 2025 (online and in-person, Washington, DC): PACCARB (US Presidential Advisory Council on Combatting Antimicrobial Resistant Bacteria): This particular meeting of PACCARB is unusually important as it will seek (i) public input into NAP for CARB 2025-2030 and (ii) work to sustain the momentum regarding the commitments at the High-Level Meeting on AMR at the 2024 UN General Assembly (UNGA HLM AMR). Go to http://hhs.gov/paccarb for details and to register.
- 4-5 Feb 2025 (online, 1-5p GMT timing on both days): Antimicrobial Chemotherapy Conference by GARDP and BSAC in collaboration with CEPID-ARIES and Fiocruz. Now in its 6th year, the free program offers a good review of antimicrobial R&D, ranging from drug discovery to preclinical and clinical activities. Go here to register; the abstract deadline is 15 Nov 2024.
- 25-26 February 2025 (Basel, Switzerland): The 9th AMR Conference 2025. See list of Top Recurring meetings, above.
- 11-15 April 2025 (Vienna, Austria): ESCMID Global 2025, the annual meeting of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. See Recurring Meetings list, above.
- 19-22 Oct 2025 (Georgia, USA): IDWeek 2025, the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society
- 11-15 April 2025 (Vienna, Austria): ESCMID Global 2025. See list of Top Recurring meetings, above.
- [NEW] 30 June-1 July 2025 (virtual and in Washington, DC): BID2025: BARDA Industry Days — Enhancing Health Security With a Sustainable Future. BID provides the opportunity to discuss U.S. government medical countermeasure (MCM) priorities, provide the private sector an informal opportunity to interact with BARDA and ASPR teams, and identify potential areas of collaboration in the field of MCM research and development. Go here for details.
- 19-22 Oct 2025 (Georgia, USA): IDWeek 2025. See list of Top Recurring meetings, above.
- [2025 dates now posted] 11-19 Oct 2025 (Annecy, France, residential in-person program): ICARe (Interdisciplinary Course on Antibiotics and Resistance) … and 2025 will be the 9th year for this program. Patrice Courvalin orchestrates content with the support of an all-star scientific committee and faculty. The resulting soup-to-nuts training covers all aspects of antimicrobials, is very intense, and routinely gets rave reviews! Seating is limited, so mark your calendars now if you are interested. Applications should open ~March 2025 — go here for more details.
- OpenWHO: “Antimicrobial Resistance in the environment: key concepts and interventions.” Per the webpage for the course, it will teach you “…why addressing AMR in the environment is essential and gain insights into how action can be taken to prevent and control AMR in the environment at the national level.” This course builds on WHO’s 2024 Guidance on wastewater and solid waste management for manufacturing of antibiotics. For further reading, see also the 25 Sep 2023 newsletter entitled “Manufacturing underpins both access and stewardship: Cefiderocol as a case study” and the 28 Jan 2024 newsletter entitled “EMA Concept Paper: Guidance on manufacturing of phage products”.