Dear All, WHO have just (2 Oct 2025) released a pair of reports on therapeutics and diagnostics for bacterial pathogens, with a focus on how these advance our tools for priority bacterial pathogens. Here are the links you need: WHO 2025 update on the preclinical and clinical antibacterial pipeline Title: “Analysis of antibacterial agents in
Dear All (and with thanks to Betsy Trainor for co-authoring), The idea of the STEDI values of an antibiotic (its fire extinguisher-like values) comes up often. As a reminder, the STEDI values are Spectrum, Transmission, Enablement, Diversity, and Insurance. As a good example, consider Enablement: knowing that an antibiotic exists as a backup makes safe
Dear All, PACE (Pathways to Antimicrobial Clinical Efficacy), a large UK-based public-private funder, have announced a £6 million funding round for projects in the hit-to-lead and lead optimization stages. The call is for antibacterial projects that target WHO priority Gram-negative pathogens (Enterobacteriaceae, A. baumannii and P. aeruginosa; see the AMR.Solutions summary of the priority pathogen
Dear All, I wrote in a 12 Dec 2024 newsletter (“Mirror Bacteria: An AMR threat of unprecedented magnitude”) about the really disturbing possible threat from creation of “mirror” bacteria in which all chiral elements of the bacterium are replaced by their enantiomeric counterparts. Such bacteria are predicted to be able to evade many (if not most)
Dear All, The EU have today announced the European Partnership on One Health AMR (OHAMR), a major AMR funding initiative that will run for 10 years (press release, webpage)! As a bit of background, the EU have invested more than EUR 1 billion in hundreds of AMR-focused projects over the past ~15 years. From my
Dear All (unapologetically wonkish … very important material!), Let’s set the scene today by considering two quotes: Prosaic: “The successful treatment of patients with cancer has long depended on the capacity to manage infectious complications.” (Shropshire 2025, cited below) Blunt translation: “Your cancer will be controlled, but then you may die of infection.” (Abdul Ghafur,
Dear All (with thanks to Vega Masignani for co-authoring this newsletter), While the work needed to create new antibacterial agents is the primary topic of this newsletter, the need for vaccines of all types is definitely part of our community’s joint remit. As discussed in the 29 Mar 2021 newsletter (“Vaccines to turn back the
Dear All, I am pleased to learn that BARDA is holding a one-day innovation symposium on 20 Nov 2025. As you know, BARDA is a consistently creative funder of diverse medical countermeasures, including new antibiotics. For background, see these prior newsletters: 22 Jul 2025 newsletter: “BARDA RFP: Antibiotic for HABP/VABP or Bloodstream Infection” 5 Nov
Dear All (wonkish but stick with it … I’m going to try very hard to de-wonk it; addendum: see also the follow-up newsletter mentioned below), In an absolutely terrifying paper and technical report in today’s issue of Science, we are introduced in detail to the concept of “mirror” bacteria in which all chiral elements of
Dear All: Two things today. Unrelated, but both relevant! WHO’s GLASS: WHO’s Global Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System (GLASS) was created during October 2015 and seeks to obtain coordinated and consistent global estimates on resistance rates. In a major report released on 29 Jan 2018, GLASS now provides provides official national AMR data for the period 2016-17 from 40 countries