John Rex

Manufacturing underpins access in LMICs: An update on cefiderocol

Dear All, No one is safe until we’re all safe! In the 7 April 2025 newsletter on antibiotic access (“UNSLAP: You reach for the antibiotic … and it’s not there!”), Louise Norton-Smith and I concluded that we need to work to address all the elements of the long and delicate supply chain from manufacturing to local

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Most current global summary of Pull incentives

Dear All, I was recently asked about a ready summary of the current state of play of Pull incentives around the globe. In response, here are two related resources: First, WHO and the Global AMR R&D Hub jointly author an update on the state of incentives for R&D. Their most current report is dated 14 Oct

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Sign-on letter encouraging AMR funding in the FY2026 US budget

Dear All, If you represent a US-based organization with an interest in AMR, there is an opportunity to sign a letter advocating for AMR-related funding in the FY2026 US Government (USG) budget. Founded in 2014, IDSA’s S-FAR (Stakeholder Forum on Antimicrobial Resistance) has been steadily coordinating messages to the USG from professional groups with an interest

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UNSLAP: You reach for the antibiotic … and it’s not there!

Dear All (with thanks to Louise for co-authoring and with a wonkish alert … settle in for the ride!), Today’s newsletter discusses the intersection of three themes around antibiotic access. Recall first how the paper by Baraldi et al. (1 Dec 2024 newsletter) taught us that there are at least six variations to the idea

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Antibacterial R&D is very hard! Two great pipeline reviews + an Industry-level view

Dear All (and with thanks to Stephan Harbarth for co-authoring this newsletter), A new review by Ursula Theuretzbacher and colleagues from GARDP provides an opportunity to (i) discuss the preclinical antibacterial pipeline (the new paper), (ii) remind you of a recent review of the Gram-negative clinical pipeline, and (iii) share an excellent Industry-level perspective on

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WHO pipeline reviews: Antifungal agents and fungal diagnostics

Dear All, As you know, WHO have been steadfastly producing both priority pathogens lists (PPLs) and pipeline reviews. My current summaries of both are found at https://amr.solutions/pathogens-and-pipelines/. WHO began this process in 2017 with an initial focus antibacterial agents. To date, they have released multiple antibacterial pipeline reviews (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2023, see

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Now live: HERA’s call for rapid point-of-care susceptibility devices

Dear All, I wrote in the 19 Feb 2025 newsletter about HERA’s 13m EUR call for rapid point-of-care susceptibility devices. The call is now live! Title: Development of a Rapid Point-of-care Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Diagnostic Medical Device (HADEA/2025/CPN/0006) Funding and Tenders portal link: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/tender-details/2e5c607e-6e55-4268-b99a-730c5db350b7-CN “This call for tenders aims to speed up the development of an in

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Updates: CARB-X TPPs; Independent Panel for Evidence for Action against AMR

Dear All, Two quick updates this evening. First, you will recall that CARB-X have announced their initial 2025 funding round (26 Feb 2025 newsletter), with a call for applications for funding of work on (i) small molecules for Gram-negative infection and (ii) diagnostics for typhoid. In support of these calls, TPPs (target product profiles) for both

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Unexpected resistance: The tale of rifaximin and daptomycin

Dear All (and with thanks to Patricia Bradford for taking the lead on this newsletter): Today, this paper in Nature takes us on a trip to the land of unintended consequences: Turner, A.M., Li, L., Monk, I.R. et al. Rifaximin prophylaxis causes resistance to the last-resort antibiotic daptomycin. Nature 635, 969–977 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08095-4. A wonkish summary is found below

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CARB-X announces its 2025 funding round

Dear All, At BEAM’s AMR Conference in Basel, Team CARB-X have today announced their 2025 funding round. Key points: Two themes: (i) Direct-acting small molecule therapeutics for Gram-negatives (same as in 2024) and (ii) diagnostics for typhoid fever in low-resource settings. 23 Mar 2025 newsletter update: The TPPs for both themes have been released: Small

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