Dear All, The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is scheduled to meet 26-28 Feb 2025 (see links below my signature for deeper background on ACIP and how it advises on vaccine use). At least as of today, the ACIP meeting is scheduled to occur as planned: it has a full agenda that covers meningococcal vaccine, influenza
Dear All, If you are attending ESCMID Global in Vienna this year, mark your calendar for two major events. I hope to see you at both of them! First, there will be a Science Policy Forum afternoon (with networking reception) on Friday, 11 April 2025. Refined over the past two iterations of ECCMID, this event was
Dear All, Sadly, I must report that the 27th meeting of PACCARB (the US Presidential Advisory Council on Combatting Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria) planned for 28-29 Jan 2025 has been cancelled “as the new Administration considers its plan for managing federal policy and public communications.” This 22 Jan 2025 article in the New York Times provides additional details
Dear All (and with thanks to Damiano for taking the lead on this newsletter), We start the new year with good news from Rome! On Saturday 28 December 2024, the Italian Senate passed the government’s 2025 budget, giving parliament’s final approval to a financial package which includes a pull incentive for innovative antibiotics. As promised by Minister
Dear All, We often talk about the problem of lack of access to new antibiotics. In late 2021, for example, we explored data showing that multi-year delays in access to new antibiotics were common even in high income countries (19 Aug 2021 newsletter with YouTube discussion). But as we’ll learn today, that analysis considers only one
Dear All, MyCARE, a fungal patient advocacy organization, and the Partnership to Fight Infectious Diseases (PFID), are sending a letter to the California Congressional Delegation asking them to weigh in U.S. House and Senate leadership to pass the PASTEUR Act by the end of the year. The state of California has the largest Congressional delegation and
Dear All, The Global Leaders Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (GLG AMR) chaired by Her Excellency Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley of Barbados is putting out a call for more members! Founded in 2020 by the Quadripartite, the GLG AMR has been fundamental to steady build of global awareness about AMR at senior political levels. One example of their impact
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
Dear All, As we’ve discussed previously (1 Oct 2024 newsletter), the HLM on AMR at UNGA 2024 is but one stop along the road to global action on AMR (acronymics: HLM on AMR at UNGA 2024 = High-Level Meeting on AMR at the 2024 UN General Assembly). In follow-up, we now have two AMR-related declarations from
Dear All, BARDA has released a fascinating Sources Sought Notice (SSN) seeking data on antibacterials near, at, or beyond Phase 2. I’ve never seen one before, but an SSN is market research with which BARDA will “collect feedback from current and prospective antibiotic development partners” that will “serve as continued market research for potential future acquisitions