R&D Insight – AMR.Solutions

#AMRSOS: Imipenem-relebactam withdrawn from the US market

Madeleine Rex — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 13:15:56 +0000

Dear All:

Oh, no! Hot on the heels of the excellent talk at GAMRIC by Karen Bush in which the importance of relebactam as one of our most advanced beta-lactamase inhibitors was highlighted, we have this:

Screenshot from drugs.com

Yes, that’s right, Merck have notified the US FDA that imipenem-cilastatin-relebactam (RECARBIO) is being withdrawn from the US market. I can only guess that the logic will be grounded in the realities that were (i) recognized by Cipla when they refused registration of plazomicin in Europe (11 Jul 2020 newsletter; note that plazomicin [ZEMDRI] has also been discontinued in the United States) and (ii) probed in depth by Wells et al. (14 Oct 2024 newsletter):

11 Jul 2020 newsletter: “Plazomicin EU marketing application is withdrawn: Near zero market value of newly approved antibacterials”
14 Oct 2024 newsletter: “Plazomicin (Achaogen) financial post-mortem: #PassPASTEUR”

And it’s especially painful to see this just as the product’s label has recently been expanded to included pediatrics.

So, I think we can now take the summary statements from Wells et al. and modify them slightly:

“Novel antibiotics with narrow approval for small patient populations affected by severe resistant infections usually cannot be successfully commercialized in the current US antibiotic market.
“SMEs Companies of all sizes need incentive payments structured to enable them to survive the commercialization cashflow drought.
“These changes are necessary to restore industry and financial investor confidence in the antibiotic SME development model.”

I’ve focused here on the US market as there’s no evidence that it’s being withdrawn from other markets, but I suppose this could follow. Even a big company can’t spend endlessly on a drug! My rule of thumb (7 Jan 2020 newsletter: “Melinta, Part 2 / Bankruptcy is not the end / Post-approval costs for an antibiotic”) is that a newly approved injectable antibiotic needs $350m over its first 10 years of life:($25m/year for manufacturing and $100m for pharmacovigilance and pediatrics) … and most of those costs go indefinitely thereafter.

Deep sigh. #AMRSOS! Antibiotic variety is needed both at the product and supply chain level. On this, recall the story of the collapse of the the piperacillin-tazobactam supply chain (7 Apr 2025 newsletter, “UNSLAP: You reach for the antibiotic … and it’s not there!”) — any given compound can suddenly be in short supply!

So, it really hurts to lose a product with all of 3 of the major Gram-negative indications (nosocomial pneumonia [HABP-VABP], complicated UTI, and complicated intra-abdominal infection) for adults and for children weighing as little as 2 kg).

It’s high time that we make progress on Pull incentives! We heard at GAMRIC that the EU legislation on transferable exclusivity vouchers (TEVs) is moving along. Good! We’re seeing a continued push for PASTEUR in the United States (17 Sep 2026 newsletter: “Global Review of Pull Incentives / PA STEUR Sign-On Letter.” Good again!

But it can’t be just the US, UK and EU … the entirety of the G20 should be in on this. Antibiotics are indeed the #FireExtinguishersOfMedicine… and let’s be sure we have them for ourselves, our children, and our children’s children!

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.

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, the small meeting format of BEAM’s AMR Conference (March) and GAMRIC (September-October; formerly, the ESCMID-ASM conference series) creates excellent global networking. IDWeek (October) and ECCMID (April) are much larger meetings but also provide opportunities for networking with a substantial, focused audience via their Pipeline sessions. Hope to see you there!

21-24 Oct 2026 (Washington, DC, USA): IDWeek 2026, the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. I would expect the program to continue to provide a substantial opportunity to present a product to a large audience (see also adjacent note about ESCMID) as well as opportunities to present at an IDWeek Pipeline Session. Go here to register.
23-24 Mar 2027 (Basel, Switzerland): The 10th AMR Conference (3-4 Mar 2026) is now over and offered a rich program that included a 10-year retrospective (we’ve done a lot!), regulatory updates, discussions of how to pursue development in China, and much more … in addition to being a superb opportunity for networking! You can review the content on the conference website; the 2027 program should post relatively soon.
9-13 April 2027 (Stockholm, Sweden): ESCMID Global 2027, the annual meeting of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. Details won’t be out for some months, but the website is here. I do know that the meeting schedule will again include a Science Policy Forum on Friday 9 April 2027 (see here the newsletter about the 2026 science policy forum) and all who are interested in Pull incentives and the antibiotic ecosystem should plan to be there!)..
[NEW] 7-9 Sep 2027 (Bangalore, India): The 3nd GAMRIC, the Global AMR Innovators Conference. Formerly the ESCMID-ASM (or ASM-ESCMID depending on location) Joint Conference on Drug Development for AMR, 2027 will be the 12th year for this series that is now under the joint sponsorship of CARB-X, ESCMID, LifeArc,GARDP, BEAM Alliance, Boston University, and AMR.Solutions. The 2026 meeting in Lisbon was superb and included substantial networking time (drinks on the lawn!), a keynote lecture by Karen Bush on the threat to beta-lactams due to the emergence of PBP3 mutations and sessions on program design for phage, development for pediatrics, and more. You can expect similar quality in 2027! Mark your calendar — details to follow in the spring of 2027!

Upcoming meetings of interest to the AMR community:

[NEW] 29 Sep 2026 (9a-4.30p ET, in person [Washington DC] or virtual): Jointly sponsored by FDA and the Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy, a workshop entitled “RISE to the Challenge: Statistical Considerations for Rare Disease Clinical Investigations.” This looks like a great discussion … all the major statistical gurus are speaking. Go here for the meeting’s webpage and to register for either virtual or in-person attendance..
29 Sep 2026 (7.30-9.00a ET, virtual): REVIVE (GARDP) webinar entitled “The role of investigator-initiated clinical trials in advancing antimicrobial use.” The title of the webinar is a good description of its contents! Go here to register.
10-18 Oct 2026 (Annecy, France, residential in-person program): ICARe (Interdisciplinary Course on Antibiotics and Resistance) … and 2026 will be the 10th 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! Registration for 2026 is now open and runs through June 21, 2026. Go here to register!
21-24 Oct 2026 (Washington, DC, USA): IDWeek 2026. See list of Top Recurring meetings, above.
10-13 November 2026 (Madrid, Spain): The International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID) has announced its 21st International Congress on Infectious Diseases (ICID). Regular registration rates for ICID 2026 are available through September 30, 2026. Register and view the preliminary program here.
16-18 Nov 2026 (FAO Headquarters, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00153 Rome, Italy): The 4th Annual Plenary Assembly of the AMR Multi-Stakeholder Partnership Platform, of the Quadripartite organizations (FAO, UNEP, WHO, and WOAH). “Organized ahead of the Fifth High-Level Ministerial Conference on AMR, the Plenary Assembly will bring together MSPP members and observers, partners and external stakeholders from across regions and One Health sectors. The Plenary Assembly will focus on moving from political commitments to practical delivery, with particular attention to supporting countries in implementing their AMR NAPs.” Go here for additional details to register.
27-29 Jan 2027 (Las Vegas, USA): IMARI (Interdisciplinary Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance and Innovation) sponsored by IDSA and ASM. Abstract submissions are open through 19 Aug; registration and housing will open later this summer.
[NEW] 9-11 Feb 2027 (virtual, 1-5p GMT each day): ACC2027 (Antimicrobial Chemotherapy Conference 2027), sponsored by GARDP and BSAC (British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy) in collaboration with EUP OHAMR (European Partnership on One Health Antimicrobial Resistance). This 3-day online conference includes both symposia and poster presentations. Go here for details and to register.
23-24 Mar 2027 (Basel, Switzerland): The 11th AMR Conference sponsored by the BEAM Alliance. See list of Top Recurring meetings, above.
9-13 April 2027 (Stockholm, Sweden): ESCMID Global 2026, the annual meeting of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. See Recurring Meetings list, above.
7-9 Sep 2027 (Bangalore, India): GAMRIC the Global AMR Innovators Conference. See list of Top Recurring meetings, above..
??? Mar 2028 (yes, that’s 2028, with location TBD): The 2028 Gordon Research Conference (GRC, https://www.grc.org/) entitled “Antibacterials of Tomorrow to Combat the Global Threat of Antimicrobial Resistance” and its related Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) for young doctoral and post-doctoral researchers will be sometime in March 2028. The organizers hope to coordinate dates and location with the 2028 BEAM-AMR meeting. Details to follow — mark your calendar!

Self-paced courses, online training materials, and other reference materials:

[NEW] The COMBINE Pneumonia Model is a standardized murine lung infection model designed for preclinical evaluation of novel small-molecule antibiotics. The model combines a consensus lung infection protocol with a repository of well-characterized, strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa that are available through the DSMZ (IMI COMBINE Preclinical Bacterial Strain Repository). Developed by the Innovative Medicines Initiative COMBINE project, the model provides a framework for antibiotic efficacy studies and helps provide consistency across preclinical research.
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”.
GARDP’s REVIVE website provides an encyclopedia covering a range of R&D terms, recordings of prior GARDP webinars, a variety of viewpoint articles, and more! Check it out!
GARDP’s https://antibioticdb.com/ is an open-access database of antibacterial agents.
The CARB-X website provides a range of recordings from its webinars, bootcamps, and more. A bit of browsing would be time well spent!
British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy offers an eLearning section: Education – The British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.

Current funding opportunities

Novo Nordisk Foundation (NNF) have an EUR 20m call for development of rapid, point-of-care diagnostics. See the 28 May 2026 newsletter for details; the deadline for expressions of interest is 7 Oct 2026.
BARDA’s VITAL Hub has an open call for innovative antifungals. Non-dilutive funding of up to $250K is available to startups and university-backed projects working on “first-in-class, broad-spectrum antifungal drug candidates with novel mechanisms of action for the treatment of invasive fungal infections.” Candidates for the treatment of infections caused by Candida species, including Candida auris, and Aspergillus species, as well as rare molds, such as Mucorales are eligible. In-scope technologies include small molecules and peptide-based candidates. Neither vaccines nor antibody-based nor topical treatments will be considered for award under this solicitation (considered out of scope). Applications are due by 30 Oct 2026; go here for additional details.
CARB-X have announced their second 2026 funding round. The 4 funding themes are as below. The application window runs 10-23 Nov 2026; see the 2 Sep 2026 newsletter for more details:.
- Direct-acting therapeutics for infections caused by Gram-negative bacteria
- Novel Chemistry for AMR Challenge – target-based therapeutics.
- Non-vaccine approaches to prevent neonatal sepsis
- Diagnostics for neonatal sepsis
The India AMR Co-Development Programme (I-AMR-CDP) is a collaboration between Venus Remedies Limited, the Indian Government, GARDP, ADVANCE-ID that seeks to support antibacterial R&D based in India. I have limited insight into how collaborations would work; you can start with this LinkedIn post to learn more.
ENABLE-2 has continuously open calls for both its Hit-to-Lead program as well as its Hit Identification/Validation incubator. Applicants must be academics and non-profits in Europe due to restrictions from the funders. Applications are evaluated in cycles … see the website for details on current timing for reviews.
BARDA’s long-running BAA (Broad Agency Announcement) for medical countermeasures (MCMs) for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) threats, pandemic influenza, and emerging infectious diseases is now BAA-23-100-SOL-00004 and offers support for both antibacterial and antifungal agents (as well as antivirals, antitoxins, diagnostics, and more). Note especially these Areas of Interest: Area 3.1 (MDR Bacteria and Biothreat Pathogens), Area 3.2 (MDR Fungal Infections), and Area 7.2 (Antibiotic Resistance Diagnostics for Priority Bacterial Pathogens). Although prior BAAs used a rolling cycle of 4 deadlines/year, the updated BAA released 26 Sep 2023 has a 5-year application period that ends 25 Sep 2028 and is open to applicants regardless of location: BARDA seeks the best science from anywhere in the world! See also this newsletter for further comments on the BAA and its areas of interest.
HERA Invest was launched August 2023 with €100 million to support innovative EU-based SMEs in the early and late phases of clinical trials. Part of the InvestEU program supporting sustainable investment, innovation, and job creation in Europe, HERA Invest is open for application to companies developing medical countermeasures that address one of the following cross-border health threats: (i) Pathogens with pandemic or epidemic potential, (ii) Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) threats originating from accidental or deliberate release, and (iii) Antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Non-dilutive venture loans covering up to 50% of investment costs are available. A closing date is not posted insofar as I can see — applications are accepted on a rolling basis; go here for more details.
The AMR Action Fund is open on an ongoing basis 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.
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
- 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. See also the 7 Feb 2026 newsletter (“The global funding pipeline, 2017-2023: A review”) about an excellent deep dive by the Hub team into patterns of funding over time.
- Antimicrobial Resistance Research and Innovation in Australia is an actively updated summary that covers Australia’s AMR research and patent landscape. It is provided via collaboration between The Lens (an ambitious project seeking to discover, analyse, and map global innovation knowledge) and CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, an Australian Government agency responsible for scientific research). Lots to explore here!
- 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).

#AMRSOS! The (human) cost of AMR: Data from 19 countries in Asia

John Rex — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 13:26:33 +0000

Dear All:

Significantly strengthening our database documenting the human cost of AMR, we now have an impressive survey of mortality associated with severe infections in 19 Asian countries during the period Sep 2022 to Feb 2025. Here are the links you need:

(the primary paper): Mo Y, Hao X, Ding Y et al. Severe health-care-associated infections and antimicrobial resistance in an Asian Surveillance Network (ACORN-HAI): A multicentre, prospective cohort study. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 2026; doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(26)00357-9.
(editorial about the paper): Mathers AJ and Munita JM: From estimates to evidence: measuring the true burden of AMR. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 2026; doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(26)00417-2.
Background papers giving related estimates
- 20 Jan 2022 newsletter: “#AMRSOS! GRAM report: “at least 1.27m deaths/year directly attributable to AMR”
- 29 Apr 2024 newsletter: “R&D Implications: Global Burden of Disease is 28% Infectious!”
- 17 Sep 2024 newsletter: “#AMRSOS! AMR could worsen, killing 39m during 2025-2050”

In brief, Mo Yin & colleagues from the ADVANCE-ID network have assembled a research network spanning 19 countries in Asia and used it to obtain data on 28-day all-cause mortality (ACM) of infections requiring intravenous antimicrobial therapy:.

Data were collected for 10,111 patients of whom 9,496 were included in the final analysis
The investigators collected data on patient characteristics, the microbiology of the causative organism, and quality of life.

There’s a lot of good detail here that I am going to reduce to two figures focusing on 28-day ACM.

First up is this figure looking at crude 28-day ACM for VAP (ventilator-associated pneumonia), Hospital-acquired bloodstream infection (BSI), and Healthcare-associated BSI:

This one takes a bit of decoding. The core idea is that attributable mortality will be estimated as the difference between the ACM for susceptible and resistant pathogens. Here’s how to read the figure:

Start by observing that there are 4 sub-panels in the figure, each containing 5 pairs of vertically connected dots
Start with the first sub-panel for Overall and consider the first pair of light-red connected dots. Here we have the overall crude 28-day ACM from the entire cohort for infections due to a pathogen found resistant to at least one important drug (AMR, upper dot) vs. not meeting that test (non-AMR) … and the incremental ACM difference is just under 10%.
The next pair in blue is for infections due to a pathogen found resistant to at least three important drugs (MDR, upper dot) vs. not meeting that test (non-MDR). Again, a difference of ~10%.
In green, CRA/CSA is the pair for Carbapenem-resistant (or -susceptible) Acinetobacter spp. — and here we have a bigger difference — visually, about 25%
In a lighter green, 3GCRE/3GCSE is the pair for 3rd-generation cephalosporin resistant/susceptible Enterobacterales — a difference of just a few %
Finally (and in purple), CRE/CSE is the pair for carbapenem resistant/susceptible Enterobacterales with a difference of ~20%.

So, the concept here is that resistance would seem likely to drive higher mortality … and it did, in a pattern that is broadly similar when broken down by infection category. While just comparing susceptibility could easily miss other factors driving ACM (as discussed both in the paper and the editorial), the broad implications are nonetheless clear:

ACM for these types of infections is high even with the susceptible pathogens
And, resistance adds another 5-20% to the observed ACM

And as one demonstration that other factors are at play, this figure looks at the same concepts by socioeconomic status:

Thus, wealth gives a bit of an advantage but not an absolute one: ACM is still > 20%.

Also discussed in the text is the very interesting idea that functional status is generally poor after one of these infections. The authors used the 8-level Functional Bloodstream Infection Score (0 = dead, 7 = basically healthy) and the EQ-5D-3L health index score (0 = dead, 1 = perfect health, and values < 0 mean states worse than death). Of the patients remaining alive (about 50% of the whole population), there was not much difference for susceptible vs. resistant pathogens but full functional recovery (FBIS) was seen in < 30% and EQ-5D-3L scores were generally < 0.5).

And finally, the authors have converted their estimates from the study cohort into population-level estimates. With this, they find rates of AMR-attributable infections that are approximately double the rates in the landmark Murray study (#amrsos, see cites at the top of the newsletter). #AMRSOS, indeed!

—
This is an impressive piece of work and the team at ADVANCE-ID is to be thanked for their efforts! Yes, there are valid concerns about generalizability (well covered in the manuscript), but the raw rates do suggest a substantial and likely underestimated burden of AMR in Asia. We need to continue to advance work to create new therapies and (equally important) to make them available!

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.

[Don’t miss it!] 22-24 Sep 2026 (Lisbon, Portugal): The 2nd GAMRIC, the Global AMR Innovators Conference (London, UK). Formerly the ESCMID-ASM (or ASM-ESCMID depending on location) Joint Conference on Drug Development for AMR, 2026 will be the 11th year for this series that is now under the joint sponsorship of CARB-X, ESCMID, BEAM Alliance, GARDP, LifeArc, Boston University, and AMR.Solutions. The ongoing series employs the successful format of prior meetings with a single-track meeting and substantial networking time. The 2025 meeting was a sell-out success: a written summary is here and the videos are here. Registration for the 2026 meeting is now open and the near-final program is here: in addition to a keynote lecture by Karen Bush on the threat to beta-lactams due to the emergence of PBP3 mutations, there are sessions on funding, access, program design for narrow-spectrum agents such as phage, development for pediatrics, and more. Registration is ongoing.
21-24 Oct 2026 (Washington, DC, USA): IDWeek 2026, the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. I would expect the program to continue to provide a substantial opportunity to present a product to a large audience (see also adjacent note about ESCMID) as well as opportunities to present at an IDWeek Pipeline Session. Go here to register.
23-24 Mar 2027 (Basel, Switzerland): The 10th AMR Conference (3-4 Mar 2026) is now over and offered a rich program that included a 10-year retrospective (we’ve done a lot!), regulatory updates, discussions of how to pursue development in China, and much more … in addition to being a superb opportunity for networking! I am told the session videos will soon be available on the conference website.
9-13 April 2027 (Stockholm, Sweden): ESCMID Global 2027, the annual meeting of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. Details won’t be out for some months, but the website is here. I do know that the meeting schedule will again include a Science Policy Forum on Friday 9 April 2027 (see here the newsletter about the 2026 science policy forum) and all who are interested in Pull incentives and the antibiotic ecosystem should plan to be there!)..

Upcoming meetings of interest to the AMR community:

3 Sep 2026 (2-3.30p CEST, virtual): GAP-f (Global Accelerator for Paediatric Formulations) is is hosting an industry dialogue on paediatric TB formulations, including long-acting formulations of TB drugs. Go here to register.
[NEW] 3 Sep 2026 (9-10a ET, virtual): REVIVE (GARDP) webinar entitled “Breaking the resistance: Empowering the next generation of antimicrobial researchers.” The webinar focuses on the current state of the antimicrobial R&D expertise, the causes behind the shortage of specialized researchers, and innovative solutions to reverse the trend. Go here to register. If this theme interests you, be sure to also review the 8 Feb 2024 newsletter entitled “Leaving the lab: The decline in AMR R&D professionals.”
9-10 Sep 2026 (9a-5p ET in person or online: The Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (PACCARB) will meet with a focus on microbiome science to support AMR prevention and drive novel interventions. Go here for additional details and to register.
[NEW] 17 Sep 2026 (11a-12.30p ET, virtual): REVIVE (GARDP) webinar entitled “Tackling pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic challenges in antifungal therapy.” The webinar’s title is a good discussion of its contents! Go here to register.
22-24 Sep 2026 (Lisbon, Portugal): GAMRIC the Global AMR Innovators Conference. See list of Top Recurring meetings, above..
[NEW] 29 Sep 2026 (7.30-9.00a ET, virtual): REVIVE (GARDP) webinar entitled “The role of investigator-initiated clinical trials in advancing antimicrobial use.” The title of the webinar is a good description of its contents! Go here to register.
10-18 Oct 2026 (Annecy, France, residential in-person program): ICARe (Interdisciplinary Course on Antibiotics and Resistance) … and 2026 will be the 10th 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! Registration for 2026 is now open and runs through June 21, 2026. Go here to register!
21-24 Oct 2026 (Washington, DC, USA): IDWeek 2026. See list of Top Recurring meetings, above.
10-13 November 2026 (Madrid, Spain): The International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID) has announced its 21st International Congress on Infectious Diseases (ICID). Register and view the preliminary program here.
[NEW] 16-18 Nov 2026 (FAO Headquarters, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00153 Rome, Italy): The 4th Annual Plenary Assembly of the AMR Multi-Stakeholder Partnership Platform, of the Quadripartite organizations (FAO, UNEP, WHO, and WOAH). “Organized ahead of the Fifth High-Level Ministerial Conference on AMR, the Plenary Assembly will bring together MSPP members and observers, partners and external stakeholders from across regions and One Health sectors. The Plenary Assembly will focus on moving from political commitments to practical delivery, with particular attention to supporting countries in implementing their AMR NAPs.” Go here for additional details to register.
27-29 Jan 2027 (Las Vegas, USA): IMARI (Interdisciplinary Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance and Innovation) sponsored by IDSA and ASM. Abstract submissions are open through 19 Aug; registration and housing will open later this summer.
23-24 Mar 2027 (Basel, Switzerland): The 11th AMR Conference sponsored by the BEAM Alliance. See list of Top Recurring meetings, above.
9-13 April 2027 (Stockholm, Sweden): ESCMID Global 2026, the annual meeting of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. See Recurring Meetings list, above.
??? Mar 2028 (yes, that’s 2028, with location TBD): The 2028 Gordon Research Conference (GRC, https://www.grc.org/) entitled “Antibacterials of Tomorrow to Combat the Global Threat of Antimicrobial Resistance” and its related Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) for young doctoral and post-doctoral researchers will be sometime in March 2028. The organizers hope to coordinate dates and location with the 2028 BEAM-AMR meeting. Details to follow — mark your calendar!

Self-paced courses, online training materials, and other reference materials:

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”.
GARDP’s REVIVE website provides an encyclopedia covering a range of R&D terms, recordings of prior GARDP webinars, a variety of viewpoint articles, and more! Check it out!
GARDP’s https://antibioticdb.com/ is an open-access database of antibacterial agents.
The CARB-X website provides a range of recordings from its webinars, bootcamps, and more. A bit of browsing would be time well spent!
British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy offers an eLearning section: Education – The British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.

Current funding opportunities

Novo Nordisk Foundation (NNF) have an EUR 20m call for development of rapid, point-of-care diagnostics. See the 28 May 2026 newsletter for details; the deadline for expressions of interest is 7 Oct 2026.
[NEW] BARDA’s VITAL Hub has an open call for innovative antifungals. Non-dilutive funding of up to $250K is available to startups and university-backed projects working on “first-in-class, broad-spectrum antifungal drug candidates with novel mechanisms of action for the treatment of invasive fungal infections.” Candidates for the treatment of infections caused by Candida species, including Candida auris, and Aspergillus species, as well as rare molds, such as Mucorales are eligible. In-scope technologies include small molecules and peptide-based candidates. Neither vaccines nor antibody-based nor topical treatments will be considered for award under this solicitation (considered out of scope). Applications are due by 30 Oct 2026; go here for additional details.
CARB-X have had one funding round (8-22 April 2026); a further round is expected during 4Q 2026. There are 4 funding themes for these rounds as below.
- Direct-acting therapeutics for infections caused by Gram-negative bacteria
- Novel Chemistry for AMR Challenge – target-based therapeutics.
- Non-vaccine approaches to prevent neonatal sepsis
- Diagnostics for neonatal sepsis
[NEW] The India AMR Co-Development Programme (I-AMR-CDP) is a collaboration between Venus Remedies Limited, the Indian Government, GARDP, ADVANCE-ID that seeks to support antibacterial R&D based in India. I have limited insight into how collaborations would work; you can start with this LinkedIn post to learn more.
ENABLE-2 has continuously open calls for both its Hit-to-Lead program as well as its Hit Identification/Validation incubator. Applicants must be academics and non-profits in Europe due to restrictions from the funders. Applications are evaluated in cycles … see the website for details on current timing for reviews.
BARDA’s long-running BAA (Broad Agency Announcement) for medical countermeasures (MCMs) for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) threats, pandemic influenza, and emerging infectious diseases is now BAA-23-100-SOL-00004 and offers support for both antibacterial and antifungal agents (as well as antivirals, antitoxins, diagnostics, and more). Note especially these Areas of Interest: Area 3.1 (MDR Bacteria and Biothreat Pathogens), Area 3.2 (MDR Fungal Infections), and Area 7.2 (Antibiotic Resistance Diagnostics for Priority Bacterial Pathogens). Although prior BAAs used a rolling cycle of 4 deadlines/year, the updated BAA released 26 Sep 2023 has a 5-year application period that ends 25 Sep 2028 and is open to applicants regardless of location: BARDA seeks the best science from anywhere in the world! See also this newsletter for further comments on the BAA and its areas of interest.
HERA Invest was launched August 2023 with €100 million to support innovative EU-based SMEs in the early and late phases of clinical trials. Part of the InvestEU program supporting sustainable investment, innovation, and job creation in Europe, HERA Invest is open for application to companies developing medical countermeasures that address one of the following cross-border health threats: (i) Pathogens with pandemic or epidemic potential, (ii) Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) threats originating from accidental or deliberate release, and (iii) Antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Non-dilutive venture loans covering up to 50% of investment costs are available. A closing date is not posted insofar as I can see — applications are accepted on a rolling basis; go here for more details.
The AMR Action Fund is open on an ongoing basis 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.
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
- 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. See also the 7 Feb 2026 newsletter (“The global funding pipeline, 2017-2023: A review”) about an excellent deep dive by the Hub team into patterns of funding over time.
- Antimicrobial Resistance Research and Innovation in Australia is an actively updated summary that covers Australia’s AMR research and patent landscape. It is provided via collaboration between The Lens (an ambitious project seeking to discover, analyse, and map global innovation knowledge) and CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, an Australian Government agency responsible for scientific research). Lots to explore here!
- 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).

AMR Science-Policy Symposia (ESCMID 2026): Smart policies for lean times

John Rex — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 19:07:19 +0000

Dear All:

ESCMID Global once again held an afternoon of sessions focused on the intersection of AMR-related science and policy. With an overall theme of “Smart policies for lean times,” the well-attended afternoon comprised a pair of workshops, a plenary session, and a networking reception (I’ll also note that there was a related integrated workshop [“Aligning research and policy to unlock antibiotic innovation”, supported by GSK] that preceded the afternoon but I was unable to attend it).

Importantly, I am told that this series is going to continue to be implemented on the Friday that begins ESCMID. Next year, that will be Friday 9 Apr 2027 with ESCMID running 9-13 April 2027 in Stockholm. So, mark your calendars now for next year!

Back to this year, the afternoon’s parallel workshops were evidence-focused:

Evidence for policy: modelling and economics
Innovation for action: diagnostics and cost-effectiveness across the product development and implementation pathway
24 Sep 2026 addendum: The reports from these workshops are now available at https://www.escmid.org/science-research/antimicrobial-resistance/news-archive/science-policy-forum-2026-reports/.

Both session were full to overflowing with standing room only for later arrivals!

Above, photo credit Robert Skov — lots of interest in these workshops … we need bigger rooms next year!

After the workshops, the plenary (opened by Robert Skov and then chaired by Jon Friedland) featured:

(opening comments) Hon. Minister Mekdes Daba, Global Leaders Group on AMR, and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General
(keynote) “AMR policy action under pressure: doing more with less”: Naomi Rupasinghe (World Bank, Washington, USA)
“Efficient and effective IPC [Infection Prevention and Control]”: Benedetta Allegranzi (WHO Regional Office for The Eastern Mediterranean, Cairo, Egypt)
“Prevention pays off: vaccination policies for AMR” by Padmini Srikantiah (Gates Foundation, Seattle, USA)
“Global AWaRe targets and national cost savings“: Koen Pouwels (University of Oxford, Oxford, UK)
“A gram of prevention or a kilo of cure?“: Javier Yugueros-Marcos (World Organisation for Animal Health, Paris, France)

A full summary of the afternoon’s content is more than I can make happen lest this newsletter become a version of a long novel! But, I would like to give a tour of the ideas shared by each speaker:

First up, Naomi Rupasinghe’s keynote focused on the ways that she has been working from the World Bank to create workable investment opportunities in AMR. I’ve gotten to know her work through sitting with her on the World Economic Forum’s AMR Global Future Council and its 2026 Davos Compact on AMR that now has > 50 signatories (see this blog).

Now, you may well react to “investment” and “AMR” with “no one wants to go there”, but there are examples of creating impact or social investment possibilities for investors who want to assist social causes such as health care, housing or education. A 22 Sep 2019 Wall Street Journal story entitled “Bonds That Do Good—and, Maybe, Well” provides a good summary of these ideas as does the discussion in the 11 Nov 2025 newsletter entitled (“Milken Future of Health Summit: AMR Symposium”).

Naomi’s talk showed us the path forward in AMR with an example from the vaccine world where the IFFIm (International Finance Facility for Immunisation) leveraged long-term pledges from 11 sovereign governments to raise $6.2b from the capital markets … and thus, 233m children were immunized:

For more on this type of work see this UNESCO report entitled “Advanced Market Commitment [AMC] for Pneumococcal Vaccines” as well as this pair of reports from GAVI about the pneumococcal vaccine AMC and its impact

Next up, WHO’s Benedetta Allegranzi summarized the progress we’ve made in developing (and implementing) best practices for IPC (Infection Prevention and Control). In 2023, we had release of the WHO’s Global Strategy on IPC and then in 2025 we had the release of a practical guide to Development and implementation of national action plans for infection prevention and control: practical guide:

The third speaker, Padmini Srikantiah, Deputy Director at the Gates Foundation, gave us a tour of the impact of vaccines. She noted that existing vaccines (alone!) would annually avert 106k deaths, 9.1m DALYs, US$861m in hospital costs, and US$5.9b in productivity losses. Combined with future vaccines, the potential value is staggering!

I particularly enjoyed this figure highlighting the durability of vaccines. The x-axis is time (years) and each line represents a drug or vaccine, starting from the time of its introduction to the first documented resistance-related failure in a human (an X). Look closely! All the red drug lines end in an X whereas only a few of the vaccines end with an X … and even then, it takes many years for resistance to develop to vaccines vs. often relatively prompt resistance to the drugs.

Figure above is from Kennedy DA and Read AF. Why the evolution of vaccine resistance is less of a concern than the evolution of drug resistance. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2018;115(51):12878–86, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1717159115.

Fourth, Koen Pouwels (U Oxford), reviewed his research on the value of adjusting prescribing patterns so that usage in the Access category of the WHO AWaRe (Access-Watch-Reserve) antibiotic ranking hits the UNGA HLM-AMR target of ~70%. Based on modeling that grouped regions by sociodemographic factors and infection patterns (“latent class modeling”), substantial savings were possible … and please read his paper for more details! And for more on AWaRe, see the 13 Dec 2022 newsletter entitled “WHO AWaRe antibiotic handbook released!”

Fifth, Javier Yugueros-Marcos (World Organisation for Animal Health) reminded us that AMR is already causing $17b in annual GDP losses in livestock production with the potential for the cost to rise to $159b annually by 2050 if we don’t act (26 Sep 2024 report from WOAH). Building on a classic concept with his title “A gram of prevention or a kilo of cure,” he showed the potential for modern interventions to have a huge impact (in this example using AI-enabled CCTV monitoring):

Finally, WHO’s JP Nyemazi closed the session by first reviewing the political work that brought us to the 2024 UNGA HLM on AMR (graphic from 15 Apr 2023 newsletter):

… followed by a discussion of what is coming for IPEA (the Independent Panel on Evidence for Action; see the 6 Jul 2025 newsletter entitled “Establishing an Independent Panel on Evidence for Action”) as well as updates to the Global Action Plan (GAP) on AMR:

As noted on the slides, the IPEA is scheduled to launch by 3Q26; the updated GAP will be endorsed next month at the World Health Assembly (WHA).

Whoosh! Very exciting to see all this work underway! We truly do need “Smart policies for lean times” so that we effectively deploy the resources available. By continuing to work in a collaborative way across OneHealth sectors, we can make the case to policy makers for thoughtful, integrated solutions that are sustainable over generations.

What a great afternoon … many thanks to ESCMID for this ongoing series! And after all of that, we were ready for a beer at the networking reception! If you were there, it was great to see you! If you weren’t there … we’ll see everyone at this event next year!

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.

17-21 April 2026 (Munich, Germany): ESCMID Global 2026, the annual meeting of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. You can go here to register and view the program.The meeting schedule will again includes a Science Policy Forum on Friday afternoon (all who are interested in Pull incentives should be there!) and an innovation-focused Pipeline Monday.
22-24 Sep 2026 (Lisbon, Portugal): The 2nd GAMRIC, the Global AMR Innovators Conference (London, UK). Formerly the ESCMID-ASM (or ASM-ESCMID depending on location) Joint Conference on Drug Development for AMR, 2026 will be the 11th year for this series that is now under the joint sponsorship of CARB-X, ESCMID, BEAM Alliance, GARDP, LifeArc, Boston University, and AMR.Solutions. The ongoing series employs the successful format of prior meetings with a single-track meeting and substantial networking time. The 2025 meeting was a sell-out success! A written summary of the 2025 meeting is here and the videos from the sessions are now available here. Registration for the 2026 meeting is now open and you can view the preliminary program here. Abstract submissions are open through Fri 10 Apr at noon CET; note as well that travel grants are available for attendees with accepted abstracts. A late-breaker window be announced for July.
21-24 Oct 2026 (Washington, DC, USA): IDWeek 2026, the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Details are not yet available but I would expect the program to continue to provide a substantial opportunity to present a product to a large audience (see also adjacent note about ESCMID) as well as opportunities to present at an IDWeek Pipeline Session.
23-24 Mar 2027 (Basel, Switzerland): The 10th AMR Conference (3-4 Mar 2026) is now over and offered a rich program that included a 10-year retrospective (we’ve done a lot!), regulatory updates, discussions of how to pursue development in China, and much more … in addition to being a superb opportunity for networking! I am told the session videos will soon be available on the conference website. Mark your calendars for next year’s 11th AMR Conference!

Upcoming meetings of interest to the AMR community:

17-21 April 2026 (Munich, Germany): ESCMID Global 2026, the annual meeting of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. See Recurring Meetings list, above.
28 Apr 2026 (9:30-11:00 CET, virtual): REVIVE (GARDP)-sponsored webinar: “Natural product-inspired antibiotics: Successes and future prospects.” Go here for details and to register.
4-8 June 2026 (Washington, DC): ASM Microbe, the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. The meeting format is evolving and next year will combine 3 meetings (ASM Health, ASM Applied and Environmental Microbiology, and ASM Mechanism Discovery) into one event. Go here for details.
11-12 Jun 2026 (Washington, DC): The Second Annual Unite for Sepsis Symposium, presented by the Sepsis Alliance. The event seeks to accelerate progress in sepsis research and care. Go here for details and to register.
22-24 Sep 2026 GAMRIC (Lisbon, Portugal), the Global AMR Innovators Conference (London, UK; formerly the ESCMID-ASM Joint Conference on Drug Development for AMR). See list of Top Recurring meetings, above..
10-18 Oct 2026 (Annecy, France, residential in-person program): ICARe (Interdisciplinary Course on Antibiotics and Resistance) … and 2026 will be the 10th 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! Registration for 2026 will be during March 16–July 3, 2026. You can go here for more details and you should put a reminder in your calendar register on / after 16 March.
21-24 Oct 2026 (Washington, DC, USA): IDWeek 2026. See list of Top Recurring meetings, above.
[Abstract deadline is 28 April!] 10-13 November 2026 (Madrid, Spain): The International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID) has announced its 21st International Congress on Infectious Diseases (ICID). Register and view the preliminary program here (Early bird closes 30 July 2026); abstract deadline is 28 April 2026.
23-24 Mar 2027 (Basel, Switzerland): The 11th AMR Conference sponsored by the BEAM Alliance. See list of Top Recurring meetings, above.
??? Mar 2028 (yes, that’s 2028, with location TBD): The 2028 Gordon Research Conference (GRC, https://www.grc.org/) entitled “Antibacterials of Tomorrow to Combat the Global Threat of Antimicrobial Resistance” and its related Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) for young doctoral and post-doctoral researchers will be sometime in March 2028. The organizers hope to coordinate dates and location with the 2028 BEAM-AMR meeting. Details to follow — mark your calendar!

Self-paced courses, online training materials, and other reference materials:

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”.
GARDP’s REVIVE website provides an encyclopedia covering a range of R&D terms, recordings of prior GARDP webinars, a variety of viewpoint articles, and more! Check it out!
GARDP’s https://antibioticdb.com/ is an open-access database of antibacterial agents.
The CARB-X website provides a range of recordings from its webinars, bootcamps, and more. A bit of browsing would be time well spent!
British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy offers an eLearning section: Education – The British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.

Current funding opportunities

[NEW] Wellcome Leap have announced a $50m funding round to support development of technologies that would spare the gut, focus the delivery of the antibiotic to the site of infection, and (thereby) reduce the rate of emergence of resistance. The application timeline is soon and short: 8-15 May 2026. See the 19 Apr 2026 newsletter for details.
CARB-X have announced a funding round that will be open 8-22 April 2026 (there will also be a round during 4Q 2026). There are 4 funding themes as below. Informational webinars have been announced for 9 and 10 April 2026.
- Direct-acting therapeutics for infections caused by Gram-negative bacteria
- Novel Chemistry for AMR Challenge – target-based therapeutics.
- Non-vaccine approaches to prevent neonatal sepsis
- Diagnostics for neonatal sepsis
The Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026-2027 includes at least 3 calls of interest within its Cluster 1 — see the list below. The application window starts 10 Feb 2026 and closes on 16 Apr 2026. See also the 12 Dec 2025 newsletter about the call. Note as well that there calls for agents to prevent and/or treat viral infections.
- HORIZON-HLTH-2027-01-DISEASE-08: Development of innovative antimicrobials against pathogens resistant to antimicrobials
- HORIZON-HLTH-2027-02-IND-02: Portable point-of-care diagnostics
- HORIZON-HLTH-2026-01-DISEASE-03:Advancing research on the prevention, diagnosis, and management of post-infection long-term conditions.
ENABLE-2 has continuously open calls for both its Hit-to-Lead program as well as its Hit Identification/Validation incubator. Applicants must be academics and non-profits in Europe due to restrictions from the funders. Applications are evaluated in cycles … see the website for details on current timing for reviews.
BARDA’s long-running BAA (Broad Agency Announcement) for medical countermeasures (MCMs) for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) threats, pandemic influenza, and emerging infectious diseases is now BAA-23-100-SOL-00004 and offers support for both antibacterial and antifungal agents (as well as antivirals, antitoxins, diagnostics, and more). Note especially these Areas of Interest: Area 3.1 (MDR Bacteria and Biothreat Pathogens), Area 3.2 (MDR Fungal Infections), and Area 7.2 (Antibiotic Resistance Diagnostics for Priority Bacterial Pathogens). Although prior BAAs used a rolling cycle of 4 deadlines/year, the updated BAA released 26 Sep 2023 has a 5-year application period that ends 25 Sep 2028 and is open to applicants regardless of location: BARDA seeks the best science from anywhere in the world! See also this newsletter for further comments on the BAA and its areas of interest.
HERA Invest was launched August 2023 with €100 million to support innovative EU-based SMEs in the early and late phases of clinical trials. Part of the InvestEU program supporting sustainable investment, innovation, and job creation in Europe, HERA Invest is open for application to companies developing medical countermeasures that address one of the following cross-border health threats: (i) Pathogens with pandemic or epidemic potential, (ii) Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) threats originating from accidental or deliberate release, and (iii) Antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Non-dilutive venture loans covering up to 50% of investment costs are available. A closing date is not posted insofar as I can see — applications are accepted on a rolling basis; go here for more details.
The AMR Action Fund is open on an ongoing basis 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.
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
- 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. See also the 7 Feb 2026 newsletter (“The global funding pipeline, 2017-2023: A review”) about an excellent deep dive by the Hub team into patterns of funding over time.
- Antimicrobial Resistance Research and Innovation in Australia is an actively updated summary that covers Australia’s AMR research and patent landscape. It is provided via collaboration between The Lens (an ambitious project seeking to discover, analyse, and map global innovation knowledge) and CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, an Australian Government agency responsible for scientific research). Lots to explore here!
- 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).

Limits on measuring the impact of rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST)

John Rex — Wed, 27 May 2026 20:55:55 +0000

Dear All (and with thanks to Arjun Srinivasan for co-authoring this wonkish newsletter — prepare yourself! Know also that we’ve written a parallel newsletter entitled “Economic modeling of the value of rapid diagnostics” that discusses the use of modeling to estimate the value of diagnostics in general):

Driven by ongoing work to encourage use as part of good medical practice and stewardship, discussions of the value of diagnostics have been increasingly prominent in past issues of this newsletter:

18 Jun 2025: “Extending STEDI to diagnostics: STRIDES”
4 Oct 2025: “WHO: Reviews of antibacterial therapeutics and diagnostics”
17 Feb 2026: “Workshop on diagnostics: Can we drive use by making value visible?”
9 Apr 2026: “GO-Dx: Global One Health Diagnostics Access Compact”

While a lot of this discussion is focused on simply ensuring access to diagnostics (any diagnostic!), the push for use of diagnostics would be greatly aided by data showing that their use makes a difference in clinical outcomes and improved health system efficiencies. And as a build on that, the idea that rapid initiation of effective therapy improves outcomes drives a push for rapid AST. It would all seem to make perfect sense: the mortality of serious infections can be reduced by an effective antibiotic and this would imply benefits from rapid adjustments to antibiotic therapy (if needed).

Perhaps surprisingly, however, studies of the value of rapid AST have consistently struggled to demonstrate this theoretical value. A recently published study sponsored by the ARLG (Antibiotic Resistance Leadership Group) was both a very good effort to generate such data and a demonstration of the limitations on randomized demonstrations of the utility of diagnostics. To follow the discussion, here are the links you need:

Papers evaluating the clinical impact of rapid AST methods:
- Banerjee R et al. Fast Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing for Gram-Negative Bacteremia: The FAST Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2026, doi: 10.1001/jama.2026.5487. This article prompted this newsletter. It concludes that “Among patients with gram-negative bacilli BSIs, rapid blood culture AST was not superior to standard testing by DOOR.”
- Srinivasan A. A Multinational Trial of Rapid Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing: Is FASTer Better? JAMA. 2026, doi: 10.1001/jama.2026.5504. Accompanying editorial by Arjun, co-author of this newsletter.
- Anton-Vazquez V et al. Rapid versus standard antimicrobial susceptibility testing to guide treatment of bloodstream infection. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2021, doi: 10.1002/14651858.cd013235.pub2. A Cochrane review that concludes “The theoretical benefits of rapid susceptibility testing have not been demonstrated to directly improve mortality, time-to-discharge, or time-to-appropriate antibiotic in these randomized studies.”
- A comparison of six recent prospective studies of rapid AST (Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing) methods. With Banerjee 2026, there are six such studies. This is a comparative summary that John generated with the assistance of one of the AI models.
Papers evaluating the clinical impact of delayed antibiotic therapy:
- Kumar A. Duration of hypotension before initiation of effective antimicrobial therapy is the critical determinant of survival in human septic shock. Crit Care Med. 2006;34(6):1589–96, doi: 10.1097/01.ccm.0000217961.75225.e9. A classic paper on this topic – one of my favorites.
- Zasowski EJ et al. A Systematic Review of the Effect of Delayed Appropriate Antibiotic Treatment on the Outcomes of Patients with Severe Bacterial Infections. Chest. 2020;158(3):929–38, doi: 10.1016/j.chest.2020.03.087. A recent, well-written systematic review of the literature on this topic.
Papers evaluating the impact of parachutes on gravitational injury:
- What? Yes, you read that correctly — this is not an April Fool’s Day joke or a review from The Onion! We’ll make use of these papers when get to topics 2 and 3, below!
- Smith GCS, Pell JP. Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma related to gravitational challenge: Systematic review of randomised controlled trials. BMJ. 2003;327:1459–61, doi: 10.1136/bmj.327.7429.1459. No surprise — a systematic review failed to find any RCTs showing that parachutes work.
- Yeh RW et al. Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma when jumping from aircraft: randomized controlled trial. BMJ. 2018, doi: 10.1136/bmj.k5094. To address the gap identified by Smith & Pell, we’ll see that Yeh et al. conducted an RCT … details below!

So, we’re off on a tour of these 3 topics:

Why did Banerjee 2026 conclude that “Among patients with gram-negative bacilli bloodstream infections, rapid blood culture AST was not superior to standard testing by DOOR.”?
So, does time to prompt initiation of antimicrobial therapy actually matter?
What does all this say about showing superiority outcomes in studies of AST (whether rapid or not) and of antimicrobial agents?

Here we go!

Topic 1: Why did Banerjee 2026 conclude that “Among patients with gram-negative bacilli bloodstream infections, rapid blood culture AST was not superior to standard testing by DOOR.”?

The study by Banerjee 2026 was a substantial and well-considered effort to show the value of rapid AST. Building on challenges with prior studies, its key features were:

It was an open-label randomized clinical trial comparing rapid AST with standard AST as guidance for antibiotic therapy in patients with bloodstream infection due to Gram-negative bacilli (E. coli, etc.)
It was conducted at 7 medical centers in countries with a high endemicity for resistant organisms: Greece (2), India (1), Israel (3), and Spain (1).
It was a big study: it randomized 850 subjects: 413 to rapid AST, 437 to standard AST
Rather than a blunt endpoint of all-cause mortality, its primary outcome was focused on overall clinical response by use of a desirability of outcome ranking (DOOR, Evans 2015) at day 30 based on 3 categories that are ranked from better to worse: (i) alive without deleterious events, (ii) alive with deleterious events, and (iii) death.

Frustratingly, the authors found that:

Rapid AST did not improve the likelihood of a more favorable DOOR category outcome.
Rapid AST did reduce the time to antibiotic escalation or de-escalation, but
… there was no difference in time to effective antibiotic therapy.

The lack of impact of rapid AST on time to effective antibiotic therapy is almost certainly the core issue and can be seen in Figure 4 from the paper where we have antibiotic therapy over time for the two groups. The bottom two bars in each column (purple and blue) are the roll-up of overtreatment (purple) and appropriate treatment (blue): both would be expected to be effective, of course:

To make it a little easier to see, this next figure shows the sum of appropriate treatment + overtreatment (the purple and blue bars, above. As you can see, the % on adequate therapy was essentially identical over time:

So, that explains the lack of impact of rapid AST … effective antibiotics were used essentially equally well in both arms — or equally poorly, with INappropriate antibiotics used about 40% of the time! Eh? What is going on?

Well, the answer turns out to be related to the theme of these prior newsletters in which we explored the lack of use of newer (less toxic) antibiotics:

24 Apr 2026: “DTR Gram-negative infections: Are new antibiotics making a difference?”
1 Dec 2024: “The 6 meanings of ‘Lack of Access’ (UNSLAP)”
7 Apr 202: “UNSLAP: You reach for the antibiotic … and it’s not there!”

While there are multiple contributing factors (most importantly, rapid molecular ASTs do not [and cannot] detect all forms of resistance), a fundamental issue noted by the authors in their discussion is the lack of access to newer (less toxic agents). Better (rapid) AST is useless if no action is possible!

As a further concern, prior analyses (e.g., Vogler S et al. Health Policy OPEN. 2024;7:100129, doi: 10.1016/j.hpopen.2024.100129) have found that modification of provider behavior requires substantial educational efforts. The manuscript does indicate that the antibiotic stewardship team at each institution would contact the provider if treatment changes were thought needed but it’s not clear how readily or rapidly that advice was utilized at the study sites.

Finally, and further obscuring any potential impact of rapid AST, over half of the subjects had infections due to organisms that were NOT highly resistant thus, they received appropriate therapy without difficulty. Stated differently, if therapy is already appropriate, rapid AST might permit de-escalation but can’t be expected to produce clinical improvement. And it thus follows that measurement of the strength of benefit from rapid AST in the subset really needing AST was diluted by / obscured by the larger pool of patients who received acceptable therapy as part of standard practice.

In summary, and although this trial did find process benefits such as reductions in time to first antibiotic change, the negative result of this trial is readily understood from lack of the ability of an AST (whether rapid or not) to alter selection of (and time to) administration of an appropriate antibiotic unless that antibiotic is available and unless providers are also motivated to act on new data. There are also practical limits on the impact of AST devices, but the foremost problem is that the better agents were often either not available or not used in the study sites!

—–
Topic 2: So, does time to prompt initiation of antimicrobial therapy actually matter? (And we’re soon going to use the bit about gravitational injury — hang in there!)

So, what does this say about the value of AST, whether rapid or not? Well, that’s a separate issue from the impact of initiation of antimicrobial therapy. Overall, there’s little doubt that prompt administration of an effective antibiotic makes a difference … and that lack of effective therapy causes bad outcomes.

The primary data on the impact of early therapy is the extensive observational literature cited above. One can also point at specific bits of data such as the impact of a single prior dose of an effective therapy early in the course of community-acquired bacterial pneumonia (Pertel et al. Effects of prior effective therapy on the efficacy of daptomycin and ceftriaxone for the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia. CID 2008;46(8):1142–51, doi: 10.1086/533441).

And if you want more proof, this population-level figure showing the case fatality rate for erysipelas (a skin infection) in Norway illustrates the dramatic effect of the introduction of first sulfas and then penicillin:

Source: Figure 6 from Madsen ST. Scarlet fever and erysipelas in Norway during the last hundred years. Infection. 1973;1(2):76–81, https://doi.org/10.1007/bf01638479. Note the timescale on the x-axis (1880 to 1960): mortality fell from a steady rate of 20-50/1,000 cases to < 1 death per million cases from the mid-1950s.

While the effect might be less dramatic in LMICs with limited medical resources (see the final paper by the UK AMR Review in May 2016), all serious infections progress through stages of clinical severity. Inevitably, there is a point at which it doesn’t look so bad, then it’s a bit worse, and then it’s awful, and finally it’s too late. This is obvious on its face from the pathophysiology of disease and is supported by the personal experience of anyone who’s cared for such patients.

And it’s here (finally!) that the two papers on parachutes to prevent gravitational injury become relevant. The first (Smith 2003) was a snarky commentary on the desire for an RCT for everything and is included mainly for completeness: “As with many interventions intended to prevent ill health, the effectiveness of parachutes has not been subjected to rigorous evaluation by using randomised controlled trials.”

It’s the second paper (Yeh 2018) that provides the key message about feasibility and context for RCTs in some situations. In this study, the authors measured the rate of injury or death following a jump from an aircraft (airplane or helicopter) while wearing either a parachute or an empty backpack. The twist was that the jump was from an aircraft that was parked. On the ground. Not moving. Thus (and no surprise), this randomized study of 23 subjects found that:

“Parachute use did not reduce death or major traumatic injury when jumping from aircraft in the first randomized evaluation of this intervention.
“However, the trial was only able to enroll participants on small stationary aircraft on the ground, suggesting cautious extrapolation to high altitude jumps.”

OK … so that’s pretty snarky … but the point is that demonstrations of superiority require a plausible difference in outcomes between the arms. At the same time, we must also always protect study subjects to the maximum extent possible, and so there are limits on plausible designs. Like the parachute study, the circumstances at Banerjee’s study sites were such that it can be seen (in retrospect) that the lack of plausible scope for improvement in most subjects obscured any improvement in the subset of patients who actually could have benefited.

And we now need to connect this idea to topic 3…

—–
Topic 3: What does all this say about showing superiority outcomes in studies of (i) AST (whether rapid or not) and (ii) antimicrobial agents?

Following on from parachutes in Topic 2, we now need to loop back to a perennial question: Why don’t we routinely have randomized superiority data on novel anti-infective agents or AST? And actually, is it even plausible to expect to have such data?

Hopefully, you’ll now understand that the answer is “No, not unless something really bad has happened!” Good (and ethical) medical practice in studies of potentially lethal infections demands that we always ensure that we are trying to deliver effective therapy to participants in both arms.

With respect to this idea for trials of novel therapies, please review these sources:

Nambiar S, Laessig K, Toerner J, Farley J, Cox E. Antibacterial drug development: challenges, recent developments, and future considerations. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2014;96(2):147–9, doi: 10.1038/clpt.2014.116. An excellent discussion by five colleagues from FDA of the issues with doing superiority studies.
19 Sep 2020 newsletter: “In praise of non-inferiority” This newsletter, along with its associated YouTube explainer, provides a deep dive into the tension between superiority studies and non-inferiority studies.

And for AST (whether rapid or not), the exceptional effort by Banerjee et al. to produce such data is noteworthy and instructive. As discussed in the primary paper and the accompanying editorial, it might be possible to find a subset in which a difference could be shown, but (from Arjun’s editorial):

“…trying to focus rapid AST on a subset of patients where it might have clear mortality benefit seems impractical and unnecessary.
“Nearly every hospital in the US, and many globally (including all the hospitals in the FAST trial), have antibiotic stewardship programs focused on ensuring that patients receive optimal antibiotic therapy.
“If we have a tool that will help antibiotic stewardship programs support clinicians in optimizing therapy faster, an outcome that is consistent across all studies of rapid AST, should we not work toward making that tool available?
“The answer from a patient-centric perspective is clearly yes.”

—
In summary, our ability to measure the differential impact of more rapid forms of AST is always going to be limited. A difference is certain to exist for patients with rapidly progressive, severe forms of infection but modern therapeutic approaches work to reduce such differences. Further, it just doesn’t make sense to try to triage use of rapid AST as infections that seem mild at the start can progress very rapidly to death.

Thus, arguments around use of (rapid) AST will need to be built around economic modeling of the cost and value of different approaches. On that point, see the parallel newsletter entitled “Economic modeling of the value of rapid diagnostics”!

Best wishes,

John & Arjun

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.

Arjun Srinivasan, MD | Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Joint Commission | formerly, Deputy Director, Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, US CDC | Follow me at linkedin.com/in/arjun-srinivasan-28951b355. All opinions are my own.

[UPDATED INFO] 22-24 Sep 2026 (Lisbon, Portugal): The 2nd GAMRIC, the Global AMR Innovators Conference (London, UK). Formerly the ESCMID-ASM (or ASM-ESCMID depending on location) Joint Conference on Drug Development for AMR, 2026 will be the 11th year for this series that is now under the joint sponsorship of CARB-X, ESCMID, BEAM Alliance, GARDP, LifeArc, Boston University, and AMR.Solutions. The ongoing series employs the successful format of prior meetings with a single-track meeting and substantial networking time. The 2025 meeting was a sell-out success: a written summary is here and the videos are here. Registration for the 2026 meeting is now open and the near-final program is here: in addition to a keynote lecture by Karen Bush on the threat to beta-lactams due to the emergence of PBP3 mutations, there are sessions on funding, access, program design for narrow-spectrum agents such as phage, development for pediatrics, and more. The main abstract submission window is closed but late-breaker abstracts will be accepted 8-22 July 2026.
21-24 Oct 2026 (Washington, DC, USA): IDWeek 2026, the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. I would expect the program to continue to provide a substantial opportunity to present a product to a large audience (see also adjacent note about ESCMID) as well as opportunities to present at an IDWeek Pipeline Session.
23-24 Mar 2027 (Basel, Switzerland): The 10th AMR Conference (3-4 Mar 2026) is now over and offered a rich program that included a 10-year retrospective (we’ve done a lot!), regulatory updates, discussions of how to pursue development in China, and much more … in addition to being a superb opportunity for networking! I am told the session videos will soon be available on the conference website.
9-13 April 2027 (Stockholm, Sweden): ESCMID Global 2027, the annual meeting of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. Details won’t be out for some months, but the website is here. I do know that the meeting schedule will again include a Science Policy Forum on Friday 9 April 2027 (see here the newsletter about the 2026 science policy forum) and all who are interested in Pull incentives and the antibiotic ecosystem should plan to be there!)..

Upcoming meetings of interest to the AMR community:

4-8 June 2026 (Washington, DC): ASM Microbe, the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. The meeting format is evolving and next year will combine 3 meetings (ASM Health, ASM Applied and Environmental Microbiology, and ASM Mechanism Discovery) into one event. Go here for details.
11-12 Jun 2026 (Washington, DC): The Second Annual Unite for Sepsis Symposium, presented by the Sepsis Alliance. The event seeks to accelerate progress in sepsis research and care. Go here for details and to register.
22-24 Sep 2026 GAMRIC (Lisbon, Portugal), the Global AMR Innovators Conference (London, UK; formerly the ESCMID-ASM Joint Conference on Drug Development for AMR). See list of Top Recurring meetings, above..
[REGISTRATION IS OPEN] 10-18 Oct 2026 (Annecy, France, residential in-person program): ICARe (Interdisciplinary Course on Antibiotics and Resistance) … and 2026 will be the 10th 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! Registration for 2026 is now open and runs through June 21, 2026. Go here to register!
21-24 Oct 2026 (Washington, DC, USA): IDWeek 2026. See list of Top Recurring meetings, above.
10-13 November 2026 (Madrid, Spain): The International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID) has announced its 21st International Congress on Infectious Diseases (ICID). Register and view the preliminary program here (Early bird closes 30 July 2026); abstract deadline is 28 April 2026.
23-24 Mar 2027 (Basel, Switzerland): The 11th AMR Conference sponsored by the BEAM Alliance. See list of Top Recurring meetings, above.
9-13 April 2027 (Stockholm, Sweden): ESCMID Global 2026, the annual meeting of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. See Recurring Meetings list, above.
??? Mar 2028 (yes, that’s 2028, with location TBD): The 2028 Gordon Research Conference (GRC, https://www.grc.org/) entitled “Antibacterials of Tomorrow to Combat the Global Threat of Antimicrobial Resistance” and its related Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) for young doctoral and post-doctoral researchers will be sometime in March 2028. The organizers hope to coordinate dates and location with the 2028 BEAM-AMR meeting. Details to follow — mark your calendar!

Self-paced courses, online training materials, and other reference materials:

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”.
GARDP’s REVIVE website provides an encyclopedia covering a range of R&D terms, recordings of prior GARDP webinars, a variety of viewpoint articles, and more! Check it out!
GARDP’s https://antibioticdb.com/ is an open-access database of antibacterial agents.
The CARB-X website provides a range of recordings from its webinars, bootcamps, and more. A bit of browsing would be time well spent!
British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy offers an eLearning section: Education – The British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.

Current funding opportunities

CARB-X have had one funding round (8-22 April 2026); a further round is expected during 4Q 2026. There are 4 funding themes for these rounds as below.
- Direct-acting therapeutics for infections caused by Gram-negative bacteria
- Novel Chemistry for AMR Challenge – target-based therapeutics.
- Non-vaccine approaches to prevent neonatal sepsis
- Diagnostics for neonatal sepsis
The Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026-2027 includes at least 3 calls of interest within its Cluster 1 — see the list below. The application window starts 10 Feb 2026 and closes on 16 Apr 2026. See also the 12 Dec 2025 newsletter about the call. Note as well that there calls for agents to prevent and/or treat viral infections.
- HORIZON-HLTH-2027-01-DISEASE-08: Development of innovative antimicrobials against pathogens resistant to antimicrobials
- HORIZON-HLTH-2027-02-IND-02: Portable point-of-care diagnostics
- HORIZON-HLTH-2026-01-DISEASE-03:Advancing research on the prevention, diagnosis, and management of post-infection long-term conditions.
ENABLE-2 has continuously open calls for both its Hit-to-Lead program as well as its Hit Identification/Validation incubator. Applicants must be academics and non-profits in Europe due to restrictions from the funders. Applications are evaluated in cycles … see the website for details on current timing for reviews.
BARDA’s long-running BAA (Broad Agency Announcement) for medical countermeasures (MCMs) for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) threats, pandemic influenza, and emerging infectious diseases is now BAA-23-100-SOL-00004 and offers support for both antibacterial and antifungal agents (as well as antivirals, antitoxins, diagnostics, and more). Note especially these Areas of Interest: Area 3.1 (MDR Bacteria and Biothreat Pathogens), Area 3.2 (MDR Fungal Infections), and Area 7.2 (Antibiotic Resistance Diagnostics for Priority Bacterial Pathogens). Although prior BAAs used a rolling cycle of 4 deadlines/year, the updated BAA released 26 Sep 2023 has a 5-year application period that ends 25 Sep 2028 and is open to applicants regardless of location: BARDA seeks the best science from anywhere in the world! See also this newsletter for further comments on the BAA and its areas of interest.
HERA Invest was launched August 2023 with €100 million to support innovative EU-based SMEs in the early and late phases of clinical trials. Part of the InvestEU program supporting sustainable investment, innovation, and job creation in Europe, HERA Invest is open for application to companies developing medical countermeasures that address one of the following cross-border health threats: (i) Pathogens with pandemic or epidemic potential, (ii) Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) threats originating from accidental or deliberate release, and (iii) Antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Non-dilutive venture loans covering up to 50% of investment costs are available. A closing date is not posted insofar as I can see — applications are accepted on a rolling basis; go here for more details.
The AMR Action Fund is open on an ongoing basis 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.
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
- 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. See also the 7 Feb 2026 newsletter (“The global funding pipeline, 2017-2023: A review”) about an excellent deep dive by the Hub team into patterns of funding over time.
- Antimicrobial Resistance Research and Innovation in Australia is an actively updated summary that covers Australia’s AMR research and patent landscape. It is provided via collaboration between The Lens (an ambitious project seeking to discover, analyse, and map global innovation knowledge) and CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, an Australian Government agency responsible for scientific research). Lots to explore here!
- 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).

Global Review of Pull Incentives / PASTEUR Sign-On Letter

John Rex — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 18:54:11 +0000

Dear All:

We need to make Pull incentives work! On this theme, our first topic for today is an opportunity for organizations to sign a letter of support for PASTEUR. This letter is co-led by the AMR Action Fund, BIO, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Infectious Diseases Society of America and Partnership to Fight Infectious Diseases. Here are the links you need to join the over 170 organizations that have already signed on:

The letter and and the sign-on form
- The letter itself
- Sign this form by Friday, September 25 to join the letter of support!
Details on PASTEUR
- PASTEUR legislative text
- Senate and House press releases
- A summary of how PASTEUR has evolved over time
- A marvelous infographic that visually emphasizes this point:

I like it! Well said! Please sign!

—
Emphasizing the importance of passing PASTEUR, our next topic is an excellent review of Pull incentives around the world! Here are the links you need:

The paper itself:
- Anderson M, O’Neill E, Ljungqvist G, Cherla A, Claessens Z, Schoefs E, et al. Designing eligibility and evaluation criteria for antibacterial pull incentives: a comparative review of implemented and emerging initiatives. The Lancet Regional Health – Europe. 2026;70. DOI: 10.1016/j.lanepe.2026.101849
- The paper’s supplementary materials
Key related newsletters — start here for a deeper dive into this topic:
- Why are antibiotics different? What are they worth?
  - 19 Mar 2024 newsletter: “Tragedy of the (Antibiotic) Commons: A true market failure”
  - 27 Mar 2026 newsletter: “Antimicrobial Effectiveness: The strategic economic value of antibiotics”
- Where are we on our journey to Pull?
  - 12 Dec 2025 newsletter: “Pull incentives in Europe: TEVs to be included in legislative update”
  - 15 Sep 2025 newsletter: “Progress (at least some!) towards a global pull incentive”
  - 13 Apr 2025 newsletter: “Most current global summary of Pull incentives”
  - AMR.Solutions webpage summarizing incentives

And now to the paper itself. Anderson et al. have searched widely and found data on 28 pull incentives: 20 implemented (UK, Sweden, Germany, France, Italy, US, Japan, and EU) and 8 proposed or in development (US, Japan, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, and EU). What did they find? Inconsistency and variation! I can’t improve on their summary:

“Eligibility and evaluation criteria vary substantially across countries in scope and specificity.
“Company-level obligations on stewardship, access, and environmental safeguards are applied inconsistently, and [are] most comprehensive in the UK and Swedish models.
“Greater international alignment around a shared core of criteria, while retaining flexibility for national context and operational feasibility, could reduce uncertainty for developers and strengthen the global incentive ecosystem.”

Table 2 gives you a good feel for the range of variation in Pull mechanisms:

… and Table 3 (not reproduced … see the paper) shows a substantial variation in target pathogens.

Sigh. This variation in requirements is not helpful to developers! It’s hard enough to do this work … and conflicting demands for what is considered good just makes it worse. We really need a consistent target with the clarity of something like the UK’s point-based system, or the as yet less-defined but structurally similar points-based system in PASTEUR.

Net, however, it’s tremendously helpful to have this review as the basis for further conversation and research. No mechanism is perfect, but the years of debate since the foundational workshop hosted by Sweden in 2009 on “Innovative incentives for Effective Antibacterials” have refined our understanding of what is needed. The essential elements of the UK and PASTEUR mechanisms are the key we need to work towards global alignment on these ideas!

With thanks to Anderson and colleagues for a fine paper and with 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.

[Don’t miss it! Of particular note is a session on developing phage therapeutics — if this is you, please be sure to be there!] 22-24 Sep 2026 (Lisbon, Portugal): The 2nd GAMRIC, the Global AMR Innovators Conference (London, UK). Formerly the ESCMID-ASM (or ASM-ESCMID depending on location) Joint Conference on Drug Development for AMR, 2026 will be the 11th year for this series that is now under the joint sponsorship of CARB-X, ESCMID, BEAM Alliance, GARDP, LifeArc, Boston University, and AMR.Solutions. The ongoing series employs the successful format of prior meetings with a single-track meeting and substantial networking time. The 2025 meeting was a sell-out success: a written summary is here and the videos are here. Registration for the 2026 meeting is now open and the near-final program is here: in addition to a keynote lecture by Karen Bush on the threat to beta-lactams due to the emergence of PBP3 mutations, there are sessions on funding, access, program design for narrow-spectrum agents such as phage, development for pediatrics, and more. Registration is ongoing.
21-24 Oct 2026 (Washington, DC, USA): IDWeek 2026, the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. I would expect the program to continue to provide a substantial opportunity to present a product to a large audience (see also adjacent note about ESCMID) as well as opportunities to present at an IDWeek Pipeline Session. Go here to register.
23-24 Mar 2027 (Basel, Switzerland): The 10th AMR Conference (3-4 Mar 2026) is now over and offered a rich program that included a 10-year retrospective (we’ve done a lot!), regulatory updates, discussions of how to pursue development in China, and much more … in addition to being a superb opportunity for networking! I am told the session videos will soon be available on the conference website.
9-13 April 2027 (Stockholm, Sweden): ESCMID Global 2027, the annual meeting of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. Details won’t be out for some months, but the website is here. I do know that the meeting schedule will again include a Science Policy Forum on Friday 9 April 2027 (see here the newsletter about the 2026 science policy forum) and all who are interested in Pull incentives and the antibiotic ecosystem should plan to be there!)..

Upcoming meetings of interest to the AMR community:

22-24 Sep 2026 (Lisbon, Portugal): GAMRIC the Global AMR Innovators Conference. See list of Top Recurring meetings, above..
[NEW] 29 Sep 2026 (9a-4.30p ET, in person [Washington DC] or virtual): Jointly sponsored by FDA and the Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy, a workshop entitled “RISE to the Challenge: Statistical Considerations for Rare Disease Clinical Investigations.” This looks like a great discussion … all the major statistical gurus are speaking. Go here for the meeting’s webpage and to register for either virtual or in-person attendance..
29 Sep 2026 (7.30-9.00a ET, virtual): REVIVE (GARDP) webinar entitled “The role of investigator-initiated clinical trials in advancing antimicrobial use.” The title of the webinar is a good description of its contents! Go here to register.
10-18 Oct 2026 (Annecy, France, residential in-person program): ICARe (Interdisciplinary Course on Antibiotics and Resistance) … and 2026 will be the 10th 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! Registration for 2026 is now open and runs through June 21, 2026. Go here to register!
21-24 Oct 2026 (Washington, DC, USA): IDWeek 2026. See list of Top Recurring meetings, above.
10-13 November 2026 (Madrid, Spain): The International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID) has announced its 21st International Congress on Infectious Diseases (ICID). Regular registration rates for ICID 2026 are available through September 30, 2026. Register and view the preliminary program here.
16-18 Nov 2026 (FAO Headquarters, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00153 Rome, Italy): The 4th Annual Plenary Assembly of the AMR Multi-Stakeholder Partnership Platform, of the Quadripartite organizations (FAO, UNEP, WHO, and WOAH). “Organized ahead of the Fifth High-Level Ministerial Conference on AMR, the Plenary Assembly will bring together MSPP members and observers, partners and external stakeholders from across regions and One Health sectors. The Plenary Assembly will focus on moving from political commitments to practical delivery, with particular attention to supporting countries in implementing their AMR NAPs.” Go here for additional details to register.
27-29 Jan 2027 (Las Vegas, USA): IMARI (Interdisciplinary Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance and Innovation) sponsored by IDSA and ASM. Abstract submissions are open through 19 Aug; registration and housing will open later this summer.
23-24 Mar 2027 (Basel, Switzerland): The 11th AMR Conference sponsored by the BEAM Alliance. See list of Top Recurring meetings, above.
9-13 April 2027 (Stockholm, Sweden): ESCMID Global 2026, the annual meeting of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. See Recurring Meetings list, above.
??? Mar 2028 (yes, that’s 2028, with location TBD): The 2028 Gordon Research Conference (GRC, https://www.grc.org/) entitled “Antibacterials of Tomorrow to Combat the Global Threat of Antimicrobial Resistance” and its related Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) for young doctoral and post-doctoral researchers will be sometime in March 2028. The organizers hope to coordinate dates and location with the 2028 BEAM-AMR meeting. Details to follow — mark your calendar!

Self-paced courses, online training materials, and other reference materials:

[NEW] The COMBINE Pneumonia Model is a standardized murine lung infection model designed for preclinical evaluation of novel small-molecule antibiotics. The model combines a consensus lung infection protocol with a repository of well-characterized, strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa that are available through the DSMZ (IMI COMBINE Preclinical Bacterial Strain Repository). Developed by the Innovative Medicines Initiative COMBINE project, the model provides a framework for antibiotic efficacy studies and helps provide consistency across preclinical research.
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”.
GARDP’s REVIVE website provides an encyclopedia covering a range of R&D terms, recordings of prior GARDP webinars, a variety of viewpoint articles, and more! Check it out!
GARDP’s https://antibioticdb.com/ is an open-access database of antibacterial agents.
The CARB-X website provides a range of recordings from its webinars, bootcamps, and more. A bit of browsing would be time well spent!
British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy offers an eLearning section: Education – The British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.

Current funding opportunities

Novo Nordisk Foundation (NNF) have an EUR 20m call for development of rapid, point-of-care diagnostics. See the 28 May 2026 newsletter for details; the deadline for expressions of interest is 7 Oct 2026.
BARDA’s VITAL Hub has an open call for innovative antifungals. Non-dilutive funding of up to $250K is available to startups and university-backed projects working on “first-in-class, broad-spectrum antifungal drug candidates with novel mechanisms of action for the treatment of invasive fungal infections.” Candidates for the treatment of infections caused by Candida species, including Candida auris, and Aspergillus species, as well as rare molds, such as Mucorales are eligible. In-scope technologies include small molecules and peptide-based candidates. Neither vaccines nor antibody-based nor topical treatments will be considered for award under this solicitation (considered out of scope). Applications are due by 30 Oct 2026; go here for additional details.
CARB-X have announced their second 2026 funding round. The 4 funding themes are as below. The application window runs 10-23 Nov 2026; see the 2 Sep 2026 newsletter for more details:.
- Direct-acting therapeutics for infections caused by Gram-negative bacteria
- Novel Chemistry for AMR Challenge – target-based therapeutics.
- Non-vaccine approaches to prevent neonatal sepsis
- Diagnostics for neonatal sepsis
The India AMR Co-Development Programme (I-AMR-CDP) is a collaboration between Venus Remedies Limited, the Indian Government, GARDP, ADVANCE-ID that seeks to support antibacterial R&D based in India. I have limited insight into how collaborations would work; you can start with this LinkedIn post to learn more.
ENABLE-2 has continuously open calls for both its Hit-to-Lead program as well as its Hit Identification/Validation incubator. Applicants must be academics and non-profits in Europe due to restrictions from the funders. Applications are evaluated in cycles … see the website for details on current timing for reviews.
BARDA’s long-running BAA (Broad Agency Announcement) for medical countermeasures (MCMs) for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) threats, pandemic influenza, and emerging infectious diseases is now BAA-23-100-SOL-00004 and offers support for both antibacterial and antifungal agents (as well as antivirals, antitoxins, diagnostics, and more). Note especially these Areas of Interest: Area 3.1 (MDR Bacteria and Biothreat Pathogens), Area 3.2 (MDR Fungal Infections), and Area 7.2 (Antibiotic Resistance Diagnostics for Priority Bacterial Pathogens). Although prior BAAs used a rolling cycle of 4 deadlines/year, the updated BAA released 26 Sep 2023 has a 5-year application period that ends 25 Sep 2028 and is open to applicants regardless of location: BARDA seeks the best science from anywhere in the world! See also this newsletter for further comments on the BAA and its areas of interest.
HERA Invest was launched August 2023 with €100 million to support innovative EU-based SMEs in the early and late phases of clinical trials. Part of the InvestEU program supporting sustainable investment, innovation, and job creation in Europe, HERA Invest is open for application to companies developing medical countermeasures that address one of the following cross-border health threats: (i) Pathogens with pandemic or epidemic potential, (ii) Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) threats originating from accidental or deliberate release, and (iii) Antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Non-dilutive venture loans covering up to 50% of investment costs are available. A closing date is not posted insofar as I can see — applications are accepted on a rolling basis; go here for more details.
The AMR Action Fund is open on an ongoing basis 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.
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
- 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. See also the 7 Feb 2026 newsletter (“The global funding pipeline, 2017-2023: A review”) about an excellent deep dive by the Hub team into patterns of funding over time.
- Antimicrobial Resistance Research and Innovation in Australia is an actively updated summary that covers Australia’s AMR research and patent landscape. It is provided via collaboration between The Lens (an ambitious project seeking to discover, analyse, and map global innovation knowledge) and CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, an Australian Government agency responsible for scientific research). Lots to explore here!
- 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).

NIAID/DMID FY2027 concepts: Clinical networks (x2!), TB, Cocci, Malaria, MCMs

John Rex — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 23:09:41 +0000

Dear All,

Recently posted, six concepts were approved for FY 2027 funding at the September 2025 meeting of NIAID’s Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (DMID). These are not yet published as official calls for applications, but it’s reasonable to expect that these concepts will be funded and the advance notice allows anyone interested to start thinking:

Infectious Diseases Clinical Trials Network (IDCTN)
- The IDCTN will “provide the clinical infrastructure for implementing clinical trials and studies and provide rapid response capabilities to studies of medical countermeasures in response to public health and disease threats.”
Clinical Research Network (CRN) on Antimicrobial Resistance
- Different from the IDCTN, this initiative will “continue support for a CRN” that will conduct research focused on “AMR priority lists from the CDC, including AMR fungal pathogens.” Noting the phrase “continue support for a CRN”, I would infer that this initiative will be the next iteration of the highly successful ARLG project that has been running since 2013.
- 17 Sep 2026 update: This call has now been officially published as RFA-AI-27-005. The application window opens 10 Oct 2026 and closes 10 Nov 2026.
Tuberculosis Research Advancement Centers (TRACs)
- The goal here will be to “develop the next generation of tuberculosis (TB) researchers and to catalyze multidisciplinary and innovative TB science by providing expertise and resources to facilitate basic and clinical TB research.”
Coccidioidomycosis Collaborative Research Centers
- These centers will “conduct multidisciplinary research aligned with the priorities outlined in NIAID’s Strategic Plan for Research to Develop a Valley fever Vaccine.”
Accelerating Research and Development of Next Generation Vaccines Against Malaria—A Model for Mosquito-Borne Diseases
- This initiative seeks to “stimulate basic research, discovery, and/or preclinical development activities to enable and accelerate the generation of highly efficacious malaria vaccines.”
Development of Medical Countermeasures for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases
- This initiative will support “preclinical and early clinical development of candidate vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics, and platform technologies for NIAID priority biodefense and emerging infectious disease pathogens.”

The initiatives are for FY27 (1 Oct 2026 to 30 Sep 2027) so it would be a good guess that the calls will go live during the spring of 2026. To help your thinking, there’s a bit more descriptive text for each initiative as well as a contact person at DMID.

Very exciting … such a great breadth of programs … well done, Team DMID! All best wishes, –jr

3-4 Mar 2026 (Basel, Switzerland): The 10th AMR Conference. Sponsored by the BEAM Alliance, the 9th AMR Conference was an excellent meeting! A draft program has been posted and registration is now open. Please plan to attend!
17-21 April 2026 (Munich, Germany): ESCMID Global 2026, the annual meeting of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. You can go here to register and view the preliminary program; the abstract submission window for 2026 will run 15 October to 26 Nov 2025. For those who would like a substantial opportunity to present a product to a large audience (see also adjacent note about IDWeek), I know that the meeting schedule will again include Pipeline Monday.
22-24 Sep 2026 (Lisbon, Portugal): The 2nd GAMRIC, the Global AMR Innovators Conference (London, UK). Formerly the ESCMID-ASM Joint Conference on Drug Development for AMR, 2026 will be the 11th year for this series that is now under the joint sponsorship of CARB-X, ESCMID, BEAM Alliance, GARDP, LifeArc, Boston University, and AMR.Solutions.
- The ongoing series employs the successful format of prior meetings with a single-track meeting and substantial networking time. The 2025 meeting was a sell-out success and the video from the sessions is now available here.
- [Don’t miss this: 16 Dec 2025 update webinar] The GAMRIC program committee is hosting an update webinar on 16 Dec 2025 (8-9a ET, 2-3 CET) that will include a review of the 2025 content and brainstorming on content for 2026. Go here to register! Don’t miss it!
21-24 Oct 2026 (Washington, DC, USA): IDWeek 2026, the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Details are not yet available but I would expect the program to continue to provide a substantial opportunity to present a product to a large audience (see also adjacent note about ESCMID) as well as opportunities to present at an IDWeek Pipeline Session.

Upcoming meetings of interest to the AMR community:

[NEW] 15 Dec 2025 (virtual, 13.00-14.30 CET): WHO sponsored webinar entitled “AMU Surveillance Data for Action” and will focus on using AMU surveillance data to inform policy making, stewardship, and access strategies. Go here to register. This webinar is part of a WHO series support implementation of national action plans — go here to see past webinars.
[NEW — A virtual training course!] 21 Jan to 15 April 2026 (every Wednesday, 11a-12.30p MST / 1p-2.30p EST / 6-7.30p GMT / 7-8.30p CET): CAN-AMR-Net (Canadian Antimicrobial Resistance Network) is running a 12-lecture in-depth training course entitled “Antibiotic Drug Discovery: From AI-Enabled Discovery to Successful Commercialization Comprehensive Training.”
- The course will span the entirety of antibiotic development from early discovery to clinical, regulatory, and marketing stages. Go here for more details on the planned lectures and to register.
- To best enable interaction, seating is limited – please register promptly if you are interested. The course fee ranges from $100 to $500 CAD based on geography and background.
- CAN-AMR-Net is a Health Research Training Platform (HRTP) funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) from 2024 to 2030 and this course is part of their goal to train the next generation of researchers, practitioners, and leaders in the application of transdisciplinary methodologies and communication skills across One Health sectors to tackle the problem of AMR. For questions or suggestions on the course contents, contact Sameeh Salama at: ssalama@fedorapharma.com
28-30 Jan 2026 (Las Vegas, NV, USA): IDSA and ASM have announced a new US-based meeting series entitled IMARI (Interdisciplinary Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance and Innovation) that is described as a “forum for collaboration and exploration around the latest advances in antimicrobial drug discovery and development.” Go here for to register. The window for general abstracts is closed, but a call for abstracts presenting new agents is now open through 1 Dec 2025.
4-5 Feb 2026 (virtual, 8a-noon GMT on both days): Antimicrobial Chemotherapy Conference 2026, sponsored by BSAC and GARDP. Registration here: acc-conference.com. Abstracts are welcomed and can be submitted here; abstract deadline is Friday, 14 November 2025, 17:00 GMT.
5 Feb 2026 (in person, Alderley Park, UK): BioInfect, the annual AMR-focused networking conference delivered by BioNow. Go here for details and to register.
[NEW and IMPORTANT] 5-6 Feb 2026 (virtual or in person [FDA White Oak campus, 1.30-5p ET on 5 Feb; 8.30-4p ET on 6 Feb): FDA hosted public workshop #10 in their series entitled Advancing the Development of Pediatric Therapeutics (ADEPT). The goal is to discuss challenges seen in neonatal and rare disease product development and to identify ways to leverage rare disease product development tools and regulatory frameworks. Go here for more details and here to register. The challenges of pediatric development run deep … and we need to find ways to protect children by including them in research rather than excluding them. On this theme, you might enjoy reviewing the related 7 Apr 2021 newsletter (“Developing antibiotics for children: There are no easy answers”) and the 27 May 2022 newsletter (“Antibacterial guidance (including pediatrics): Parallel EMA+FDA updates”).
18-20 Feb 2026 (Sydney, Australia, in person): The “AMR 2026 Summit”, hosted by the Fleming Initiative and Australia’s Science Agency, CSIRO. This event (website) will spotlight evidence-informed One Health approaches, practical solutions to implementation barriers, and strategies for public engagement, education, and advocacy. Space is limited, so (and sort of like applying to attend a Gordon Conference), please register your interest to attend here.
3-4 Mar 2026 (Basel, Switzerland): The 10th AMR Conference sponsored by the BEAM Alliance. See list of Top Recurring meetings, above.
8-13 Mar 2026 (Renaissance Tuscany Il Ciocco, Italy): 2026 Gordon Research Conference (GRC) entitled “Antibacterials of Tomorrow to Combat the Global Threat of Antimicrobial Resistance.” A Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) will be held the weekend before (7-8 Mar) for young doctoral and post-doctoral researchers. Space for the GRS and the GRC is limited; for details and to apply, go here for the GRC and here for the GRS.
17-21 April 2026 (Munich, Germany): ESCMID Global 2026, the annual meeting of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. See Recurring Meetings list, above.
4-8 June 2026 (Washington, DC): ASM Microbe, the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. The meeting format is evolving and next year will combine 3 meetings (ASM Health, ASM Applied and Environmental Microbiology, and ASM Mechanism Discovery) into one event. Go here for details.
22-24 Sep 2026 GAMRIC (Lisbon, Portugal), the Global AMR Innovators Conference (London, UK; formerly the ESCMID-ASM Joint Conference on Drug Development for AMR). See list of Top Recurring meetings, above..
10-18 Oct 2026 (Annecy, France, residential in-person program): ICARe (Interdisciplinary Course on Antibiotics and Resistance) … and 2026 will be the 10th 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! Registration for 2026 will not open for some time; go here for more details and put a reminder in your calendar to check back in the Spring if you are interested.
21-24 Oct 2026 (Washington, DC, USA): IDWeek 2026. See list of Top Recurring meetings, above.

Self-paced courses, online training materials, and other reference materials:

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”.
GARDP’s REVIVE website provides an encyclopedia covering a range of R&D terms, recordings of prior GARDP webinars, a variety of viewpoint articles, and more! Check it out!
GARDP’s https://antibioticdb.com/ is an open-access database of antibacterial agents.
The CARB-X website provides a range of recordings from its webinars, bootcamps, and more. A bit of browsing would be time well spent!
British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy offers an eLearning section: Education – The British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.

Current funding opportunities

[CALL IS NOW OPEN] CARB-X has now opened its 2nd call for 2025. The call is focused on (i) Small molecules for Gram-negatives (the focus is on Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and (ii) Diagnostics for typhoid (the focus is diagnosis of acute infections in 60 minutes or less). See this 26 Feb 2025 newsletter for a discussion of the call and go here for the CARB-X webpage on the call. This 2nd round is open 1-12 Dec 2025. Informational webinars are being held on Thu 4 Dec at 19:00 ET and Fri 5 Dec at 9:00 ET.
EU OHAMR (One Health AMR) has opened its first call with a request for consortia to propose projects on (i) combination therapies, (ii) ways to improve adherence to protocols, and (iii) ways to assess/inform regarding the impact of antimicrobials used in veterinary medicine and food agriculture. The window for pre-proposals runs 18 Nov 2025 to 2 Feb 2026. See also the 22 Oct 2025 newsletter about the call.
ENABLE-2 has continuously open calls for both its Hit-to-Lead program as well as its Hit Identification/Validation incubator. Applicants must be academics and non-profits in Europe due to restrictions from the funders. Applications are evaluated in cycles … see the website for details on current timing for reviews.
BARDA’s long-running BAA (Broad Agency Announcement) for medical countermeasures (MCMs) for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) threats, pandemic influenza, and emerging infectious diseases is now BAA-23-100-SOL-00004 and offers support for both antibacterial and antifungal agents (as well as antivirals, antitoxins, diagnostics, and more). Note especially these Areas of Interest: Area 3.1 (MDR Bacteria and Biothreat Pathogens), Area 3.2 (MDR Fungal Infections), and Area 7.2 (Antibiotic Resistance Diagnostics for Priority Bacterial Pathogens). Although prior BAAs used a rolling cycle of 4 deadlines/year, the updated BAA released 26 Sep 2023 has a 5-year application period that ends 25 Sep 2028 and is open to applicants regardless of location: BARDA seeks the best science from anywhere in the world! See also this newsletter for further comments on the BAA and its areas of interest.
HERA Invest was launched August 2023 with €100 million to support innovative EU-based SMEs in the early and late phases of clinical trials. Part of the InvestEU program supporting sustainable investment, innovation, and job creation in Europe, HERA Invest is open for application to companies developing medical countermeasures that address one of the following cross-border health threats: (i) Pathogens with pandemic or epidemic potential, (ii) Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) threats originating from accidental or deliberate release, and (iii) Antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Non-dilutive venture loans covering up to 50% of investment costs are available. A closing date is not posted insofar as I can see — applications are accepted on a rolling basis; go here for more details.
The AMR Action Fund is open on an ongoing basis 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.
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
- 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.
- Antimicrobial Resistance Research and Innovation in Australia is an actively updated summary that covers Australia’s AMR research and patent landscape. It is provided via collaboration between The Lens (an ambitious project seeking to discover, analyse, and map global innovation knowledge) and CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, an Australian Government agency responsible for scientific research). Lots to explore here!
- 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).

CARB-X: 2nd 2026 application call; 5x impact of CARB-X funding!

John Rex — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 01:19:54 +0000

Dear All:

CARB-X have just announced their 2nd 2026 call for applications. There are 4 thematic areas for your proposals:

Direct-acting therapeutics for infections caused by Gram-negative bacteria
- “Proposals must target the development of agents for the treatment of Gram-negative priority pathogens” (see our Bugs & Drugs page).
Novel Chemistry for AMR Challenge: target-based therapeutics
- The focus here is on novel chemistry for validated targets: “Eligible applications must focus on … the clinically validated broad-spectrum targets of the ribosome, penicillin-binding proteins, and Type II topoisomerases; and the pre-clinically validated Gram-negative targets LpxH and LolCDE.
- “Applicants must be able to synthesize analogs at sufficient scale to enter a defined biology testing cascade that will be made available to help evaluate the compounds”
Non-vaccine approaches to prevent neonatal sepsis
- The goal here is to advance non-vaccine approaches (but passive vaccines such as monoclonals are OK!) to prevent neonatal sepsis caused by at least one of four key pathogens: Acinetobacter baumannii, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Staphylococcus aureus
Diagnostics for neonatal sepsis
- The goal here is to develop ” low-complexity triage diagnostics to support the growing portfolio of products to improve the patient care pathway of neonatal sepsis.”

Links you need:

How to apply:
- Start with the page on the 4 funding themes (same link as above)
- The application window for Expressions of Interest is 10-23 Nov 2026
There is no informational webinar this time. Instead see these Informational slides.
And as well, see the CARB-X FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions

And in case you missed it, an independent evaluation has found that projects funded by CARB-X have nearly five times greater odds to advance through clinical development than projects of similar quality which were not CARB-X funded:

Conti RM et al. An evaluation of the US public–private Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Accelerator (CARB-X) initiative, Health Affairs Scholar, Volume 4, Issue 6, June 2026, DOI:10.1093/haschl/qxag143.
The authors conclude that CARB-X support was
- “… associated with 4.68 times the odds in the probability of advancement in clinical development compared with similar-quality unfunded projects…” and
- “… positively but not statistically significantly associated with patent filing and award and continued operations of the firm compared with their unfunded counterparts…”
“The success of CARB-X helps address the AMR crisis by creating more promising drug candidates in the early part of the pipeline, an element that is needed.”

Woot, woot! Go, Team CARB-X! Sharpen your pencils and apply! 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.

[Don’t miss it! Of particular note is a session on developing phage therapeutics — if this is you, please be sure to be there!] 22-24 Sep 2026 (Lisbon, Portugal): The 2nd GAMRIC, the Global AMR Innovators Conference (London, UK). Formerly the ESCMID-ASM (or ASM-ESCMID depending on location) Joint Conference on Drug Development for AMR, 2026 will be the 11th year for this series that is now under the joint sponsorship of CARB-X, ESCMID, BEAM Alliance, GARDP, LifeArc, Boston University, and AMR.Solutions. The ongoing series employs the successful format of prior meetings with a single-track meeting and substantial networking time. The 2025 meeting was a sell-out success: a written summary is here and the videos are here. Registration for the 2026 meeting is now open and the near-final program is here: in addition to a keynote lecture by Karen Bush on the threat to beta-lactams due to the emergence of PBP3 mutations, there are sessions on funding, access, program design for narrow-spectrum agents such as phage, development for pediatrics, and more. Registration is ongoing.
21-24 Oct 2026 (Washington, DC, USA): IDWeek 2026, the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. I would expect the program to continue to provide a substantial opportunity to present a product to a large audience (see also adjacent note about ESCMID) as well as opportunities to present at an IDWeek Pipeline Session. Go here to register.
23-24 Mar 2027 (Basel, Switzerland): The 10th AMR Conference (3-4 Mar 2026) is now over and offered a rich program that included a 10-year retrospective (we’ve done a lot!), regulatory updates, discussions of how to pursue development in China, and much more … in addition to being a superb opportunity for networking! I am told the session videos will soon be available on the conference website.
9-13 April 2027 (Stockholm, Sweden): ESCMID Global 2027, the annual meeting of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. Details won’t be out for some months, but the website is here. I do know that the meeting schedule will again include a Science Policy Forum on Friday 9 April 2027 (see here the newsletter about the 2026 science policy forum) and all who are interested in Pull incentives and the antibiotic ecosystem should plan to be there!)..

Upcoming meetings of interest to the AMR community:

3 Sep 2026 (2-3.30p CEST, virtual): GAP-f (Global Accelerator for Paediatric Formulations) is is hosting an industry dialogue on paediatric TB formulations, including long-acting formulations of TB drugs. Go here to register.
3 Sep 2026 (9-10a ET, virtual): REVIVE (GARDP) webinar entitled “Breaking the resistance: Empowering the next generation of antimicrobial researchers.” The webinar focuses on the current state of the antimicrobial R&D expertise, the causes behind the shortage of specialized researchers, and innovative solutions to reverse the trend. Go here to register. If this theme interests you, be sure to also review the 8 Feb 2024 newsletter entitled “Leaving the lab: The decline in AMR R&D professionals.”
9-10 Sep 2026 (9a-5p ET in person or online: The Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (PACCARB) will meet with a focus on microbiome science to support AMR prevention and drive novel interventions. Go here for additional details and to register.
17 Sep 2026 (11a-12.30p ET, virtual): REVIVE (GARDP) webinar entitled “Tackling pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic challenges in antifungal therapy.” The webinar’s title is a good discussion of its contents! Go here to register.
22-24 Sep 2026 (Lisbon, Portugal): GAMRIC the Global AMR Innovators Conference. See list of Top Recurring meetings, above..
29 Sep 2026 (7.30-9.00a ET, virtual): REVIVE (GARDP) webinar entitled “The role of investigator-initiated clinical trials in advancing antimicrobial use.” The title of the webinar is a good description of its contents! Go here to register.
10-18 Oct 2026 (Annecy, France, residential in-person program): ICARe (Interdisciplinary Course on Antibiotics and Resistance) … and 2026 will be the 10th 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! Registration for 2026 is now open and runs through June 21, 2026. Go here to register!
21-24 Oct 2026 (Washington, DC, USA): IDWeek 2026. See list of Top Recurring meetings, above.
[Updated] 10-13 November 2026 (Madrid, Spain): The International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID) has announced its 21st International Congress on Infectious Diseases (ICID). Regular registration rates for ICID 2026 are available through September 30, 2026. Register and view the preliminary program here.
16-18 Nov 2026 (FAO Headquarters, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00153 Rome, Italy): The 4th Annual Plenary Assembly of the AMR Multi-Stakeholder Partnership Platform, of the Quadripartite organizations (FAO, UNEP, WHO, and WOAH). “Organized ahead of the Fifth High-Level Ministerial Conference on AMR, the Plenary Assembly will bring together MSPP members and observers, partners and external stakeholders from across regions and One Health sectors. The Plenary Assembly will focus on moving from political commitments to practical delivery, with particular attention to supporting countries in implementing their AMR NAPs.” Go here for additional details to register.
27-29 Jan 2027 (Las Vegas, USA): IMARI (Interdisciplinary Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance and Innovation) sponsored by IDSA and ASM. Abstract submissions are open through 19 Aug; registration and housing will open later this summer.
23-24 Mar 2027 (Basel, Switzerland): The 11th AMR Conference sponsored by the BEAM Alliance. See list of Top Recurring meetings, above.
9-13 April 2027 (Stockholm, Sweden): ESCMID Global 2026, the annual meeting of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. See Recurring Meetings list, above.
??? Mar 2028 (yes, that’s 2028, with location TBD): The 2028 Gordon Research Conference (GRC, https://www.grc.org/) entitled “Antibacterials of Tomorrow to Combat the Global Threat of Antimicrobial Resistance” and its related Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) for young doctoral and post-doctoral researchers will be sometime in March 2028. The organizers hope to coordinate dates and location with the 2028 BEAM-AMR meeting. Details to follow — mark your calendar!

Self-paced courses, online training materials, and other reference materials:

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”.
GARDP’s REVIVE website provides an encyclopedia covering a range of R&D terms, recordings of prior GARDP webinars, a variety of viewpoint articles, and more! Check it out!
GARDP’s https://antibioticdb.com/ is an open-access database of antibacterial agents.
The CARB-X website provides a range of recordings from its webinars, bootcamps, and more. A bit of browsing would be time well spent!
British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy offers an eLearning section: Education – The British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.

Current funding opportunities

Novo Nordisk Foundation (NNF) have an EUR 20m call for development of rapid, point-of-care diagnostics. See the 28 May 2026 newsletter for details; the deadline for expressions of interest is 7 Oct 2026.
BARDA’s VITAL Hub has an open call for innovative antifungals. Non-dilutive funding of up to $250K is available to startups and university-backed projects working on “first-in-class, broad-spectrum antifungal drug candidates with novel mechanisms of action for the treatment of invasive fungal infections.” Candidates for the treatment of infections caused by Candida species, including Candida auris, and Aspergillus species, as well as rare molds, such as Mucorales are eligible. In-scope technologies include small molecules and peptide-based candidates. Neither vaccines nor antibody-based nor topical treatments will be considered for award under this solicitation (considered out of scope). Applications are due by 30 Oct 2026; go here for additional details.
CARB-X have announced their second 2026 funding round. The 4 funding themes are as below. See the 2 Sep 2026 newsletter for more details:.
- Direct-acting therapeutics for infections caused by Gram-negative bacteria
- Novel Chemistry for AMR Challenge – target-based therapeutics.
- Non-vaccine approaches to prevent neonatal sepsis
- Diagnostics for neonatal sepsis
The India AMR Co-Development Programme (I-AMR-CDP) is a collaboration between Venus Remedies Limited, the Indian Government, GARDP, ADVANCE-ID that seeks to support antibacterial R&D based in India. I have limited insight into how collaborations would work; you can start with this LinkedIn post to learn more.
ENABLE-2 has continuously open calls for both its Hit-to-Lead program as well as its Hit Identification/Validation incubator. Applicants must be academics and non-profits in Europe due to restrictions from the funders. Applications are evaluated in cycles … see the website for details on current timing for reviews.
BARDA’s long-running BAA (Broad Agency Announcement) for medical countermeasures (MCMs) for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) threats, pandemic influenza, and emerging infectious diseases is now BAA-23-100-SOL-00004 and offers support for both antibacterial and antifungal agents (as well as antivirals, antitoxins, diagnostics, and more). Note especially these Areas of Interest: Area 3.1 (MDR Bacteria and Biothreat Pathogens), Area 3.2 (MDR Fungal Infections), and Area 7.2 (Antibiotic Resistance Diagnostics for Priority Bacterial Pathogens). Although prior BAAs used a rolling cycle of 4 deadlines/year, the updated BAA released 26 Sep 2023 has a 5-year application period that ends 25 Sep 2028 and is open to applicants regardless of location: BARDA seeks the best science from anywhere in the world! See also this newsletter for further comments on the BAA and its areas of interest.
HERA Invest was launched August 2023 with €100 million to support innovative EU-based SMEs in the early and late phases of clinical trials. Part of the InvestEU program supporting sustainable investment, innovation, and job creation in Europe, HERA Invest is open for application to companies developing medical countermeasures that address one of the following cross-border health threats: (i) Pathogens with pandemic or epidemic potential, (ii) Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) threats originating from accidental or deliberate release, and (iii) Antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Non-dilutive venture loans covering up to 50% of investment costs are available. A closing date is not posted insofar as I can see — applications are accepted on a rolling basis; go here for more details.
The AMR Action Fund is open on an ongoing basis 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.
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
- 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. See also the 7 Feb 2026 newsletter (“The global funding pipeline, 2017-2023: A review”) about an excellent deep dive by the Hub team into patterns of funding over time.
- Antimicrobial Resistance Research and Innovation in Australia is an actively updated summary that covers Australia’s AMR research and patent landscape. It is provided via collaboration between The Lens (an ambitious project seeking to discover, analyse, and map global innovation knowledge) and CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, an Australian Government agency responsible for scientific research). Lots to explore here!
- 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).

R&D Implications: Global Burden of Disease is 28% Infectious!

John Rex — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 06:37:19 +0000

17 Sep 2024 update: This is now the second of a 3-part newsletter series! See also part 1 (“#AMRSOS! GRAM report: ‘at least 1.27m deaths/year directly attributable to AMR’“) and part 3 (17 Sep 2024: “#AMRSOS! AMR could worsen, killing 39m during 2025-2050”). See also the 31 Aug 2026 newsletter entitled “#AMRSOS! The (human) cost of AMR: Data from 19 countries in Asia” for data from a prospective cohort study that documents the substantial impact of AMR in Asia.

Dear All (with thanks to Erin Duffy for co-authoring and with a wonkish alert! Refresh your coffee!),

In a fascinating follow-up to their 2022 paper on the global burden of antimicrobial resistance (20 Jan 2022 newsletter entitled “#AMRSOS! GRAM Report: ‘At Least 1.27m Deaths/Year Directly Attributable To AMR'”), the team at IHME (Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation) have published an analysis of the global burden of disease due to infection (Naghavi et al., Lancet ID 2024).

The punchline is that 28% of the global burden of disease (all causes) is due to infections and (drum roll) half of that (14% of the global burden) is due to bacterial infections. But to understand how we get to these numbers, a bit of background is needed … so settle in for a a short tour:

Starting in 1991, the GBD (Global Burden of Disease) project began to systematically quantify and summarize all causes of disease on a global basis.
1. For an overview of the project, see Murray CJL, “The Global Burden of Disease Study at 30 years,” Nature Medicine 2022.
A core measure used by the project is that of DALYs (disability-adjusted life-years) that are lost due to disease.
1. DALYs encompass both mortality and morbidity.
2. In technical terms, DALY is the sum of YLL (Years of Life Lost) and YLD (Years Lived with Disability)
In 2019, the GBD project estimates that 2,540 million (2.54 billion) DALYs were lost due to illnesses of all causes (disease or injury)
(moving now to the new paper), the GBD project has analyzed infectious causes of DALYs for 85 pathogens (or groups of pathogens). In 2019 (pre-COVID), we have these stunning totals:
1. Infections caused 704m (28%) of the global burden of 2,540m DALYs.
2. Of those, half (14%, 350m DALYs) were due to bacteria (see footnote below signatures).
3. Tuberculosis (65.1m), malaria (53.6m), and HIV-AIDS (52.1m) were of course also individually big, totaling 170.8m DALYs.
Of the bacterial causes, just 7 bacteria collectively destroyed 203.8m DALYs (8% of the total global burden from all causes) and were:
1. Streptococcus spp. (56.0m, combining all the Streptococcus categories in the report)
2. Staphylococcus aureus (34.5m)
3. Escherichia coli (31.3m, combining all the E. coli categories in the report)
4. Klebsiella pneumoniae (31.1m)
5. Pseudomonas aeruginosa (18.3m)
6. Acinetobacter baumannii (16.7m)
7. Enterococcus spp. (15.9m, combining all the Enterococcus categories)
8. Post-newsletter addendum: In the original newsletter, we failed to combine all the Streptococcus categories, we inadvertently included E. histolytica as a bacterium, and we failed to recognize the grouping of the Enterococcus spp. Thus, the overall tally for the top 7 now updates the DALYs for Streptococcus from 38.1 to 56.0, adds Enterococcus (15.9m), and removes Helicobacter (16.4). With this, the total DALYs destroyed by the top 7 bacteria is 203.8m.

Figure created from data in the paper.

Wow! Death and disability from these 7 bacteria exceed tuberculosis, malaria and HIV-AIDS combined. It’s even more dramatic if you include H. pylori (16.4m): with this, the total for bacteria becomes 220.2 DALYs vs. 170.8 for TB-malaria-HIV-AIDS).

And it is also probably not a surprise to learn that these burdens were distributed unevenly across the globe. The less developed parts of the world bear the greatest load — and children under 5 bear the highest burden no matter where you are in the world:

(above) Figure 1 from Naghavi et al.

Hmm! 28% of the (all-cause) GBD is infectious and 14% is bacterial! Clearly, the work we are doing as a community to create new therapeutic and diagnostic options is critical! And, we also know that the pipeline is not where it needs to be … if you need a refresh on this, start with the 20 Feb 2022 newsletter entitled “New Pipeline Analysis: Cancer Projects Were Funded 17x More Than Antibacterials During 2011-2020.” The title pretty much says it all.

—
What does the mean for the R&D community? Significantly, the ratio of R&D $ to infection impact appears unbalanced. Referencing a 2020 paper entitled “The allocation of US$105 billion in global funding from G20 countries for infectious disease research between 2000 and 2017” by Head et al. (Lancet Global Health), we have these data on US R&D spend by pathogen:

“genital herpes (ranked) among the top two positions in terms of investment, with $3101 per DALY” but was only “responsible for 0·253 million DALYs”

But…

“syphilis received the lowest proportion of investment, with only $9 per DALY” but was “responsible for 9·54 million DALYs in 2019.”
“Similarly, S aureus and Gram-negative bacterial infections (primarily E coli and Pseudomonas spp.) received a relatively low investment in research and development, when considering the associated DALY burden estimated in our study.”
- Per our math, S. aureus had R&D $ of ~$41/DALY, E. coli was ~$28/DALY, and P. aeruginosa was ~$55/DALY.

—
So, what actions are needed to ensure we build the pipeline we need? It’s not going to be an instant fix, but we can note that CARB-X is taking steps to rebalance the R&D spend to deliver infection impact. Following its 2022-2023 omnibus solicitation, CARB-X added several projects to its portfolio that focus on the bacteria noted above (there were also projects for diagnosis and treatment of sexually-transmitted diseases, including gonorrhea):

Three novel therapeutic programs focused on treating infections caused primarily by S. pneumoniae and S. aureus, importantly with the credentials to offer oral routes of administration for maximum impact for patients and
Two innovative vaccines targeting E. coli and K. pneumoniae, focused on preclinical proof-of-concept for maternal vaccination to prevent neonatal sepsis.

All told, the projects mentioned here + those coming soon = a financial commitment of ~$14m (post-newsletter addendum: See also the 2023 CARB-X annual report that was released 30 April 2024). And as a further step towards adjusting the funding ratio, the CARB-X funding calls for 2024 target these areas:

Significantly, the focus for Therapeutics is Gram-negative pathogens (WHO and CDC threat list pathogens) and the focus for Prevention is S. aureus and E. coli. For further details, see the CARB-X website and this 6 Mar 2024 newsletter. Similarly, GARDP’s strategy is focused on serious bacterial pathogens (especially Gram-negatives).

So, we are seeing major amounts of push funding directed towards key pathogens. Is this enough? Will we have the pipeline we need? When you recognize the many challenges of innovative R&D (see a summary in the 9 April 2024 newsletter entitled “48,015 → 0: Antibacterial Discovery Is Hard. Really, Really Hard”, it would be be easy to lose hope.

But, the level of energy in the R&D community is extraordinary. Having now funded over 100 projects, some of which are VERY audacious, the CARB-X perspective is that we can make progress. Yes, it will require 6,000 projects at the very earliest stages to yield 6 high-quality innovative therapies … and we are now engaged in making that happen:

Slide presented by Erin during the ECCMID-GLG AMR pre-meeting symposium on Science and Policy.

Onward! All best wishes, John & Erin

Erin M. Duffy, PhD | Chief of R&D, CARB-X. emduffy@bu.edu. Follow me on Twitter: @ErinDuffyJ. All opinions are my own.

Footnote: The tally of 350m DALYS (14% of total 2019 DALYs) being due to bacteria is not found in the paper. But, analysis of the line listing in Table 1 permits computation of 352m DALYs in 2019 by totaling the DALYs from these non-tuberculous bacterial causes: Acinetobacter baumannii (16.7m); Aeromonas spp (1.6m); Bordetella spp (pertussis) (11.5m); Campylobacter spp (6.3m); Chlamydia spp (5.6m); Citrobacter spp (1.9m); Clostridioides difficile (2.1m); Diphtheria (0.9m); E. coli (28.5m); E. coli, Enteropathogenic (1.3m); E. coli, Enterotoxigenic (1.5m); Enterobacter spp (11.1m); Enterococcus faecalis (7.0m); Enterococcus faecium (6.0m); Enterococcus, other spp (2.9m); Haemophilus influenzae (5.1m); Helicobacter pylori (16.4m); Klebsiella pneumoniae (31.1m); Klebsiella, Other spp (1.6m); Legionella spp (3.2m); Leprosy (0.0m); Listeria monocytogenes (0.9m); Morganella spp (0.1m); Mycoplasma spp (5.0m); Neisseria gonorrhoeae (0.2m); Neisseria meningitidis (9.4m); Proteus spp (2.7m); Providencia spp (0.1m); Pseudomonas aeruginosa (18.3m); Salmonella Paratyphi (1.6m); Salmonella Typhi (13.2m); Salmonella, Invasive non-typhoidal (14.9m); Serratia spp (4.0m); Shigella spp (7.5m); Staphylococcus aureus (34.5m); Streptococcus pneumoniae (38.1m); Streptococcus, Group A (6.7m); Streptococcus, Group B (11.2m); Syphilis (9.5m); Tetanus (2.6m); Trachoma (0.2m); Vibrio cholerae (6.8m).

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.Current funding opportunities

CARB-X has open calls that span four areas: (i) Therapeutics for Gram-Negatives, (ii) Prevention for Invasive Disease, (iii) Diagnostics for Neonatal Sepsis, and (iv) Proof-Of-Concept for Diagnosing Lower-Respiratory-Tract Infections. See this 6 Mar 2024 newsletter for a discussion of the call and go here for the CARB-X webpage on the call. There are multiple opportunities to submit — see the CARB-X webpage for details.
BARDA’s long-running BAA (Broad Agency Announcement) for medical countermeasures (MCMs) for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) threats, pandemic influenza, and emerging infectious diseases is now BAA-23-100-SOL-00004 and offers support for both antibacterial and antifungal agents (as well as antivirals, antitoxins, diagnostics, and more). Note especially these Areas of Interest: Area 3.1 (MDR Bacteria and Biothreat Pathogens), Area 3.2 (MDR Fungal Infections), and Area 7.2 (Antibiotic Resistance Diagnostics for Priority Bacterial Pathogens). Although prior BAAs used a rolling cycle of 4 deadlines/year, the updated BAA released 26 Sep 2023 has a 5-year application period that ends 25 Sep 2028 and is open to applicants regardless of location: BARDA seeks the best science from anywhere in the world! See also this newsletter for further comments on the BAA and its areas of interest.
HERA Invest was launched August 2023 with €100 million to support innovative EU-based SMEs in the early and late phases of clinical trials. Part of the InvestEU program supporting sustainable investment, innovation, and job creation in Europe, HERA Invest is open for application to companies developing medical countermeasures that address one of the following cross-border health threats: (i) Pathogens with pandemic or epidemic potential, (ii) Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) threats originating from accidental or deliberate release, and (iii) Antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Non-dilutive venture loans covering up to 50% of investment costs are available. A closing date is not posted insofar as I can see — applications are accepted on a rolling basis; go here for more details.
The AMR Action Fund is open on an ongoing basis 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.
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).

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.
17-20 Sep 2024 (Porto, Portugal): ASM/ESCMID Joint Conference on Drug Development to Meet the Challenge of Antimicrobial Resistance. Go here for the meeting’s general website. You can’t register (yet) for the 2024 event, but save the date!
16-20 Oct 2024 (Los Angeles, USA): IDWeek 2024, the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Save the date! More details to come!
25-26 February 2025 (Basel, Switzerland): The 9th AMR Conference 2025. Go here to register!

Upcoming meetings of interest to the AMR community:

27-30 April 2024 (Barcelona, Spain): 34th ECCMID, the annual meeting of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. See Recurring Meetings list, above.
15 May 2024 (in person, New York City, USA; there will be a listen-only webstream): A multistakeholder Hearing for 2024 UNGA HLM on AMR will be held by the Quadripartite Joint Secretariat (QJS-AMR). This is part of the prep for the Sep 2024 High-Level Meeting (HLM) on AMR. Preregistration by 24 April 2024 is required — go here for the registration portal.
21-22 May 2024 (hybrid in-person and online, Falls Church, VA, 9a-4p ET both day): 25th PACCARB public meeting. The primary topic is a report to the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Additional topics will cover AMR in conflict zones, the environment, and the voice of the patient.
- As a special event during the meeting, the first of a pair of short films on AMR (18-19 minutes each) will be screened. Collectively titled HOLOBIOME, these films were created with funding from NovoNordisk Foundation and with advisory support from WHO. The films are from the same team (small-r.com) who created the excellent 2015 RESISTANCE movie and cover (i) the story of AMR in a young kidney transplant patient (ii) a sci-fi / documentary hybrid exploring the need for innovation.
- Go here to register for the PACCARB meeting; go here for a preview trailer (~2 minutes) of the short films.
26-31 May 2024 (Montreal, Canada): EDAR7, the McGill AMR Centre’s 7th edition of their Environmental Dimension of Antimicrobial Resistance conference. Go here for details; final abstract deadline is 21 Dec 2023.
28-29 May 2024 (in person, Uppsala, Sweden): Uppsala Antibiotic Days, a broad-ranging 2-day program hosted by the Uppsala Antibiotic Center. Go here for details and to register.
30-31 May 2024 (face-to-face in Rockville, Maryland as well as online, 8.30-5.30p ET on 30 May, 9-2.40p on 31 May): NIAID-sponsored workshop entitled “Towards realizing the promise of adjunctive immune therapy for invasive fungal infections”. The agenda covers host immunity to invasive fungal infections, immune modulators in the context of fungal infections; and strategies for testing immune modulators as adjunctive therapy. Go here for more details and to register.
9-13 June 2024 (in person, Ascona, Switzerland): “New Approaches to Combat Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria, 2nd Edition” is a Sunday-Thursday residential workshop focused on the deep biology of AMR. Sponsored by NCCR AntiResist (a Swiss National Science Foundation consortium), the scientific program has the feel of a Gordon Conference. Space is limited, so you are encouraged to apply promptly — go here for details.
13-17 June 2024 (Atlanta, Georgia): ASM Microbe, the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. You can’t register yet, but you can go here for general details.
17-20 Sep 2024 (Porto, Portugal): ASM/ESCMID Joint Conference on Drug Development to Meet the Challenge of Antimicrobial Resistance. See Recurring Meetings list, above.
16-20 Oct 2024 (Los Angeles, USA): IDWeek 2024, the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. See Recurring Meetings list, above.
19-27 Oct 2024 (Annecy, France, residential in-person program): ICARe (Interdisciplinary Course on Antibiotics and Resistance). Now in its 8th year, Patrice Courvalin directs the program 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 open in March 2024 — go here for more details.
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.

Milken webinar: Innovative financing models for antimicrobials

John Rex — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 20:33:50 +0000

Note: I’ve been away on holiday (see the newsletter’s postscript) and so there are multiple new items in both the meetings calendar and the list of funding opportunities: TB! PACCARB! Funding for antifungals! Funding for R&D in India! Look closely!

Dear All:

The AMR Multi-Stakeholder Partnership Platform (AMR MSPP) collaborated with the Milken Institute on 28 May 2026 to host a 90-minute discussion on innovative models for financing antimicrobial development. The speakers included representatives from CARB-X, the AMR Action Fund, the European Investment Bank, and Wellcome Trust. The broad-ranging conversation and perspectives reinforced the idea that no single instrument will solve the antimicrobial financing challenge. Funds, bonds, pull incentives, philanthropy, public mandates, and policy reform all have a role to play. Here are the links you need:

26 Mar 2022 newsletter: “Pull mechanisms: Private capital can multiply Subscription (Netflix) and TEV models!”
11 Nov 2025 newsletter: “Milken Future of Health Summit: AMR Symposium”
13 Jul 2026 press release about the webinar entitled “What innovative models for financing antimicrobial development?”
And then here’s the 90-minute webinar itself:. Jump to 4:35 in the video for the opening slides:

The themes here are not new but this webinar brings us an update on where we are with the thinking. As you’ll hear, both blended capital funds and AMR-focused bonds could help, but consistent, predictable pull mechanisms will be the key to long-term success.

Here we can also link to other discussions about why it makes sense to take action now as well as notes on ongoing action in Europe (Transferrable Exclusivity Vouchers) and in the US (PASTEUR Act):

27 Mar 2026 newsletter reporting on a Panmure House (home of Adam Smith!) dialogue: “Antimicrobial Effectiveness: The strategic economic value of antibiotics”
A 20 Jun 2025 newsletter entitled “Pull incentives in Europe: Next legislative steps” in which Deepali Patel (Director of International Policy at the AMR Action Fund) decodes the EU legislative process
A 21 Oct 2025 newsletter entitled “Technical Briefing on Pull Incentives for the European Parliament” in which Frédéric Peyrane (General Secretary, BEAM Alliance) and I take you through the details of a technical briefing on TEVs that was provided to the EP by BEAM Alliance, AMR Action Fund, and Novo Nordisk Foundation
A 12 Dec 2025 newsletter entitled “Pull incentives in Europe: TEVs to be included in legislative update” providing a further update on EU TEVs
- I understand that they are progressing steadily
12 Feb 2026 newsletter: “PASTEUR (v2.0) reintroduced in the US Congress!”
- My understanding here is that passage in this session of congress is low probability but bipartisan momentum continues to build for the next session.

Yes, the process is slow … but we are going to get there! Pulling it all together, I really liked the summary that “the financing question is not only what a new antibiotic earns, but what its absence costs.” Indeed!

Many thanks to Team Milken for continuing to push on this problem!

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.

PS: I can’t resist telling you about the sandcastles that we built this year. My favorite was our working sundial. It only lasted a day in its final form, but it was great fun! See below. The 6-foot obelisk at center-left was the gnomon and the small mounds at the bottom of the image are the time markers that run from far right (9AM) to left (6PM) with the the shadow on 6PM. As was inscribed on the obelisk, “Life is Short, Time is Swift, Much to be Done!” I hope you’ve also found some downtime for personal restoration this summer!

[Don’t miss it!] 22-24 Sep 2026 (Lisbon, Portugal): The 2nd GAMRIC, the Global AMR Innovators Conference (London, UK). Formerly the ESCMID-ASM (or ASM-ESCMID depending on location) Joint Conference on Drug Development for AMR, 2026 will be the 11th year for this series that is now under the joint sponsorship of CARB-X, ESCMID, BEAM Alliance, GARDP, LifeArc, Boston University, and AMR.Solutions. The ongoing series employs the successful format of prior meetings with a single-track meeting and substantial networking time. The 2025 meeting was a sell-out success: a written summary is here and the videos are here. Registration for the 2026 meeting is now open and the near-final program is here: in addition to a keynote lecture by Karen Bush on the threat to beta-lactams due to the emergence of PBP3 mutations, there are sessions on funding, access, program design for narrow-spectrum agents such as phage, development for pediatrics, and more. Registration is ongoing.
21-24 Oct 2026 (Washington, DC, USA): IDWeek 2026, the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. I would expect the program to continue to provide a substantial opportunity to present a product to a large audience (see also adjacent note about ESCMID) as well as opportunities to present at an IDWeek Pipeline Session. Go here to register.
23-24 Mar 2027 (Basel, Switzerland): The 10th AMR Conference (3-4 Mar 2026) is now over and offered a rich program that included a 10-year retrospective (we’ve done a lot!), regulatory updates, discussions of how to pursue development in China, and much more … in addition to being a superb opportunity for networking! I am told the session videos will soon be available on the conference website.
9-13 April 2027 (Stockholm, Sweden): ESCMID Global 2027, the annual meeting of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. Details won’t be out for some months, but the website is here. I do know that the meeting schedule will again include a Science Policy Forum on Friday 9 April 2027 (see here the newsletter about the 2026 science policy forum) and all who are interested in Pull incentives and the antibiotic ecosystem should plan to be there!)..

Upcoming meetings of interest to the AMR community:

31 Aug 2026 (virtual, 2-4p CET): WHO Dialogue with antibiotic developers on optimal evidence generation across the lifecycle. This 2-h session will be a virtual dialogue on the challenges such as fragmented regulatory requirements, trade-offs in clinical trial design, and gaps between evidence generated for regulatory approval and that needed to inform clinical use and stewardship. This session continues WHO’s efforts to use their convening power to shape the global conversation about how to improve the way(s) we advance new drugs from idea to the pharmacy. The agenda is not yet public but it’s clear that it will be a very interactive session: when you go here to register, you are asked about your experience(s) and have an opportunity to volunteer to present during the session.
[NEW] 3 Sep 2026 (2-3.30p CEST, virtual): GAP-f (Global Accelerator for Paediatric Formulations) is is hosting an industry dialogue on paediatric TB formulations, including long-acting formulations of TB drugs. Go here to register.
[NEW] 9-10 Sep 2026 (9a-5p ET in person or online: The Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (PACCARB) will meet with a focus on microbiome science to support AMR prevention and drive novel interventions. Go here for additional details and to register.
22-24 Sep 2026 (Lisbon, Portugal): GAMRIC the Global AMR Innovators Conference. See list of Top Recurring meetings, above..
10-18 Oct 2026 (Annecy, France, residential in-person program): ICARe (Interdisciplinary Course on Antibiotics and Resistance) … and 2026 will be the 10th 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! Registration for 2026 is now open and runs through June 21, 2026. Go here to register!
21-24 Oct 2026 (Washington, DC, USA): IDWeek 2026. See list of Top Recurring meetings, above.
10-13 November 2026 (Madrid, Spain): The International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID) has announced its 21st International Congress on Infectious Diseases (ICID). Register and view the preliminary program here.
[NEW] 16-18 Nov 2026 (FAO Headquarters, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00153 Rome, Italy): The 4th Annual Plenary Assembly of the AMR Multi-Stakeholder Partnership Platform, of the Quadripartite organizations (FAO, UNEP, WHO, and WOAH). “Organized ahead of the Fifth High-Level Ministerial Conference on AMR, the Plenary Assembly will bring together MSPP members and observers, partners and external stakeholders from across regions and One Health sectors. The Plenary Assembly will focus on moving from political commitments to practical delivery, with particular attention to supporting countries in implementing their AMR NAPs.” Go here for additional details to register.
27-29 Jan 2027 (Las Vegas, USA): IMARI (Interdisciplinary Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance and Innovation) sponsored by IDSA and ASM. Abstract submissions are open through 19 Aug; registration and housing will open later this summer.
23-24 Mar 2027 (Basel, Switzerland): The 11th AMR Conference sponsored by the BEAM Alliance. See list of Top Recurring meetings, above.
9-13 April 2027 (Stockholm, Sweden): ESCMID Global 2026, the annual meeting of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. See Recurring Meetings list, above.
??? Mar 2028 (yes, that’s 2028, with location TBD): The 2028 Gordon Research Conference (GRC, https://www.grc.org/) entitled “Antibacterials of Tomorrow to Combat the Global Threat of Antimicrobial Resistance” and its related Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) for young doctoral and post-doctoral researchers will be sometime in March 2028. The organizers hope to coordinate dates and location with the 2028 BEAM-AMR meeting. Details to follow — mark your calendar!

Self-paced courses, online training materials, and other reference materials:

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”.
GARDP’s REVIVE website provides an encyclopedia covering a range of R&D terms, recordings of prior GARDP webinars, a variety of viewpoint articles, and more! Check it out!
GARDP’s https://antibioticdb.com/ is an open-access database of antibacterial agents.
The CARB-X website provides a range of recordings from its webinars, bootcamps, and more. A bit of browsing would be time well spent!
British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy offers an eLearning section: Education – The British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.

Current funding opportunities

Novo Nordisk Foundation (NNF) have an EUR 20m call for development of rapid, point-of-care diagnostics. See the 28 May 2026 newsletter for details; the deadline for expressions of interest is 7 Oct 2026.
[NEW] BARDA’s VITAL Hub has an open call for innovative antifungals. Non-dilutive funding of up to $250K is available to startups and university-backed projects working on “first-in-class, broad-spectrum antifungal drug candidates with novel mechanisms of action for the treatment of invasive fungal infections.” Candidates for the treatment of infections caused by Candida species, including Candida auris, and Aspergillus species, as well as rare molds, such as Mucorales are eligible. In-scope technologies include small molecules and peptide-based candidates. Neither vaccines nor antibody-based nor topical treatments will be considered for award under this solicitation (considered out of scope). Applications are due by 30 Oct 2026; go here for additional details.
CARB-X have had one funding round (8-22 April 2026); a further round is expected during 4Q 2026. There are 4 funding themes for these rounds as below.
- Direct-acting therapeutics for infections caused by Gram-negative bacteria
- Novel Chemistry for AMR Challenge – target-based therapeutics.
- Non-vaccine approaches to prevent neonatal sepsis
- Diagnostics for neonatal sepsis
[NEW] The India AMR Co-Development Programme (I-AMR-CDP) is a collaboration between Venus Remedies Limited, the Indian Government, GARDP, ADVANCE-ID that seeks to support antibacterial R&D based in India. I have limited insight into how collaborations would work; you can start with this LinkedIn post to learn more.
ENABLE-2 has continuously open calls for both its Hit-to-Lead program as well as its Hit Identification/Validation incubator. Applicants must be academics and non-profits in Europe due to restrictions from the funders. Applications are evaluated in cycles … see the website for details on current timing for reviews.
BARDA’s long-running BAA (Broad Agency Announcement) for medical countermeasures (MCMs) for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) threats, pandemic influenza, and emerging infectious diseases is now BAA-23-100-SOL-00004 and offers support for both antibacterial and antifungal agents (as well as antivirals, antitoxins, diagnostics, and more). Note especially these Areas of Interest: Area 3.1 (MDR Bacteria and Biothreat Pathogens), Area 3.2 (MDR Fungal Infections), and Area 7.2 (Antibiotic Resistance Diagnostics for Priority Bacterial Pathogens). Although prior BAAs used a rolling cycle of 4 deadlines/year, the updated BAA released 26 Sep 2023 has a 5-year application period that ends 25 Sep 2028 and is open to applicants regardless of location: BARDA seeks the best science from anywhere in the world! See also this newsletter for further comments on the BAA and its areas of interest.
HERA Invest was launched August 2023 with €100 million to support innovative EU-based SMEs in the early and late phases of clinical trials. Part of the InvestEU program supporting sustainable investment, innovation, and job creation in Europe, HERA Invest is open for application to companies developing medical countermeasures that address one of the following cross-border health threats: (i) Pathogens with pandemic or epidemic potential, (ii) Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) threats originating from accidental or deliberate release, and (iii) Antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Non-dilutive venture loans covering up to 50% of investment costs are available. A closing date is not posted insofar as I can see — applications are accepted on a rolling basis; go here for more details.
The AMR Action Fund is open on an ongoing basis 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.
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
- 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. See also the 7 Feb 2026 newsletter (“The global funding pipeline, 2017-2023: A review”) about an excellent deep dive by the Hub team into patterns of funding over time.
- Antimicrobial Resistance Research and Innovation in Australia is an actively updated summary that covers Australia’s AMR research and patent landscape. It is provided via collaboration between The Lens (an ambitious project seeking to discover, analyse, and map global innovation knowledge) and CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, an Australian Government agency responsible for scientific research). Lots to explore here!
- 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).

Antimicrobial Effectiveness: The strategic economic value of antibiotics

John Rex — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 13:54:03 +0000

Dear All (and with thanks to Lucy Naga for being the lead author on this economic-focused newsletter),

Antimicrobials are the quiet safety net of modern medicine. They underpin everything from routine infections to cancer treatment and surgery. They also support animal health and food production. Antimicrobial Effectiveness (AME, the ability of these medicines to remain efficacious and accessible for appropriate use) is a foundational component of the systems that sustain modern societies.

Despite this central role, AME is rarely treated as a strategic economic asset — and it was this economic perspective on antibiotics that was the starting point for the 6 Nov 2025 Panmure House Dialogues on Market Solutions for Antimicrobial Effectiveness. This dialogue took place at Panmure House, the final home of the moral philosopher and economist Adam Smith. Today, Panmure House serves as a center for economic and social research and debate, exploring contemporary challenges through the lens of Smith’s enduring ideas.

AMR is exactly the kind of problem Smith would have cared deeply about. While he championed the power of markets, he argued that they require well-designed institutions and aligned incentives to function in the public interest. For a thinker concerned with how nations flourish, the erosion of such a foundational resource would be an unmistakable call to action.

Against this backdrop, the dialogue brought together experts from healthcare, policy, academia, and finance to explore how economic actors—particularly investors—might help conserve and strengthen this vital resource.

— A shift in perspective —
What emerged from the discussion was a shift in perspective. AMR is usually framed as a health challenge. But AME also behaves as a form of infrastructure. It supports activity across multiple sectors, from healthcare to food systems, and its erosion creates risks that ripple through the wider economy.

Despite this, its value remains largely invisible in financial and corporate decision-making. The systems that shape investment, innovation and operational decisions rarely account for the benefits that effective antimicrobials provide or the risks associated with their loss.

The economic stakes are substantial. Research suggests that if antimicrobial resistance continues unchecked, global economic output could fall by around US$1.7 trillion annually by 2050 (27 Sep 2024 newsletter about McDonnell et al., 2024). At the same time, the economic case for action is strong: investments in conserving AME and improving access could generate returns many times greater than their cost (per other work by McDonnell et al., the 30-year payoff is 28:1. See the 29 Nov 2022 newsletter and its 8 Dec 2022 follow-up).

— Integrating this perspective into economic decision-making —
The challenge, then, is not awareness. The core challenge is integration: we must bring AME into the economic systems that shape real-world decisions.

To this end, the Panmure House Dialogue workshop has released a report entitled “Engaging Investors in Antimicrobial Effectiveness” that proposes a shared framework for action to help do exactly that. At its core is the idea that AME should be recognised explicitly as global economic infrastructure. If that framing is taken seriously, the need for 4 lines of work becomes evident:

Shown at the bottom of the figure as Pillars, these actions are:

Frame AME: AME should be framed as essential economic infrastructure to highlight its systemic value across sectors and scales.
Map stakeholders: Actors who rely on or deplete AME need to be clearly mapped. These range from healthcare providers and pharmaceutical companies to agricultural producers, investors and regulators.
Quantify risks: The operational, financial, and systemic risks faced by those actors as AME erodes should be estimated. Demonstrating the financial materiality of AME will lead relevant actors to include AME in their corporate strategies.
Align action: All stakeholders that rely on and/or deplete AME should engage in established cross-sectoral dialogue to facilitate the sharing of information, alignment of incentives and coordination of targeted actions to conserve antimicrobial effectiveness.

— The role of markets —
With these insights, it is now clear why markets would enter the conversation. Markets shape how resources are valued, how capital is allocated, and how incentives are structured. If AME continues to sit outside those systems, it will remain undervalued and increasingly vulnerable. But if its role as infrastructure is recognised, markets could also become part of the solution.

The question is no longer simply how to fight AMR. It is how to build the institutional and economic architecture needed to protect one of the invisible foundations of modern life. Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand is a powerful tool in many parts of the marketplace, but it fails in the case of antibiotics. As Smith wrote in The Wealth of Nations (Book 5, Ch 1, Pt 3), “…the third and last duty of the sovereign…is that of erecting and maintaining those public institutions and those public works, which, though they may be in the highest degree advantageous to a great society, are, however, of such a nature that the profit could never repay the expense to any individual…”

— Making the invisible visible: Next steps —
As concluded in the report, “It is time to make the invisible visible. To realise these gains, AME-related risks and benefits must be identified, their financial materiality quantified, and their role embedded within investment, corporate and policy decision-making. This requires a granular understanding of how value is created, preserved and eroded across interconnected systems, combined with clear pathways through which different actors can contribute to conserving AME.”

Excitingly, the 6 Nov 2025 workshop is only the first of a Panmure House series of discussions of this topic. The focus of these workshops will be on the actions needed to build the institutional and economic architecture needed to protect one of the invisible foundations of modern life. And if you want to do a bit more reading on the economics of antibiotics, a short list of additional resources is found below our signatures.

All best wishes, Lucy (with a bit of help from John and as well a shout-out to Deepali Patel, Director International Policy at the AMR Action Fund, for critical commentary)

Lucy Naga, PhD | Research Associate in Economics | Heriot-Watt University | Manager, Panmure House Dialogues on Market Solutions for Antimicrobial Effectiveness | L.Naga@hw.ac.uk

For further reading on the ideas behind antimicrobial effectiveness, please see:

Papers focused on economics
1. 19 Mar 2024 newsletter entitled “Tragedy of the (Antibiotic) Commons: A true market failure”
2. 28 Feb 2024 newsletter entitled “How economists (and Finance Ministers) think…”
3. Brown G and Layton DF (1996): ‘Resistance Economics: social cost and evolution of antimicrobial resistance’. Environ Develop Econ. 1(3):349-355. doi:10.1017/S1355770X0000067X. This was one of the first papers to formalize the economics of AMR, highlighting market failure.
4. Weldon I, Liddell K, et al. (2024): ‘Analyzing Antimicrobial Resistance as a series of Collective Action Problems’. Policy Studies J 52(4):833-856. https://doi.org/10.1111/psj.12552. This paper’s approach to a game-theoretic understanding gives an interesting insight into the dynamics of AMR and the complexity of systems.
Reports on the role of investors in AMR
1. The Shareholder Commons (2022): ‘Antimicrobial Resistance and the Engagement Gap: why investors must do more to move the needle.’ This whitepaper considers the ways that AMR affects the long-term returns of diversified portfolios, which are affected by systemic risks, and suggests investor-determined guardrails on AMU (which would require collective action).
2. IAAMR (2022): ‘Investor Action on AMR Progress Report.’ This whitepaper includes case studies of what investors are doing to account for AMR.
3. FAIRR (2024): ‘Health and Wealth: the Investors’ Guide to AMR, a growing health crisis.’ This whitepaper identifies AMR as systemic risk, outlines economic case for investment in AMR solutions.
Discussions of the problem of access
1. 19 Aug 2021 newsletter entitled “Ex-US new antibiotic access: Multi-year delays, even in Europe!”
2. 1 Dec 2024 newsletter entitled “The 6 meanings of ‘Lack of Access’ (UNSLAP)”
3. 7 Apr 2025 newsletter entitled “UNSLAP: You reach for the antibiotic … and it’s not there!”

17-21 April 2026 (Munich, Germany): ESCMID Global 2026, the annual meeting of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. You can go here to register and view the preliminary program; the abstract submission window for 2026 will run 15 October to 26 Nov 2025. For those who would like a substantial opportunity to present a product to a large audience (see also adjacent note about IDWeek), I know that the meeting schedule will again include Pipeline Monday.
[ABSTRACT DEADLINE is Fri 10 Apr at noon CEST] 22-24 Sep 2026 (Lisbon, Portugal): The 2nd GAMRIC, the Global AMR Innovators Conference (London, UK). Formerly the ESCMID-ASM (or ASM-ESCMID depending on location) Joint Conference on Drug Development for AMR, 2026 will be the 11th year for this series that is now under the joint sponsorship of CARB-X, ESCMID, BEAM Alliance, GARDP, LifeArc, Boston University, and AMR.Solutions. The ongoing series employs the successful format of prior meetings with a single-track meeting and substantial networking time. The 2025 meeting was a sell-out success! A written summary of the 2025 meeting is here and the videos from the sessions are now available here. Registration for the 2026 meeting is now open and abstract submissions are open through Fri 10 Apr at noon CEST. Note as well that a late-breaker window be announced for July.
21-24 Oct 2026 (Washington, DC, USA): IDWeek 2026, the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Details are not yet available but I would expect the program to continue to provide a substantial opportunity to present a product to a large audience (see also adjacent note about ESCMID) as well as opportunities to present at an IDWeek Pipeline Session.
23-24 Mar 2027 (Basel, Switzerland): The 10th AMR Conference (3-4 Mar 2026) is now over and offered a rich program that included a 10-year retrospective (we’ve done a lot!), regulatory updates, discussions of how to pursue development in China, and much more … in addition to being a superb opportunity for networking! I am told the session videos will soon be available on the conference website. Mark your calendars for next year’s 11th AMR Conference!

Upcoming meetings of interest to the AMR community:

24 Mar 2026 (1-2p ET, virtual): CDC webinar entitled “Tools to Tell the Story: New Resources for Communicating about Antimicrobial Resistance.” Go here for additional details to register,
26 Mar 2026 (12.00-13.30 ET, virtual): REVIVE (GARDP)-sponsored webinar: “Journal Club: Key findings from recent publications in antimicrobial R&D.” Go here for details and to register.
17-21 April 2026 (Munich, Germany): ESCMID Global 2026, the annual meeting of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. See Recurring Meetings list, above.
4-8 June 2026 (Washington, DC): ASM Microbe, the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. The meeting format is evolving and next year will combine 3 meetings (ASM Health, ASM Applied and Environmental Microbiology, and ASM Mechanism Discovery) into one event. Go here for details.
11-12 Jun 2026 (Washington, DC): The Second Annual Unite for Sepsis Symposium, presented by the Sepsis Alliance. The event seeks to accelerate progress in sepsis research and care. Go here for details and to register.
22-24 Sep 2026 GAMRIC (Lisbon, Portugal), the Global AMR Innovators Conference (London, UK; formerly the ESCMID-ASM Joint Conference on Drug Development for AMR). See list of Top Recurring meetings, above..
[REGISTRATION NOW OPEN] 10-18 Oct 2026 (Annecy, France, residential in-person program): ICARe (Interdisciplinary Course on Antibiotics and Resistance) … and 2026 will be the 10th 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! Registration for 2026 will be during March 16–July 3, 2026. You can go here for more details and you should put a reminder in your calendar register on / after 16 March.
21-24 Oct 2026 (Washington, DC, USA): IDWeek 2026. See list of Top Recurring meetings, above.
10-13 November 2026 (Madrid, Spain): The International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID) has announced its 21st International Congress on Infectious Diseases (ICID). Register and view the preliminary program here (Early bird closes 30 July 2026); abstract deadline is 28 April 2026.
23-24 Mar 2027 (Basel, Switzerland): The 11th AMR Conference sponsored by the BEAM Alliance. See list of Top Recurring meetings, above.
??? Mar 2028 (yes, that’s 2028, with location TBD): The 2028 Gordon Research Conference (GRC, https://www.grc.org/) entitled “Antibacterials of Tomorrow to Combat the Global Threat of Antimicrobial Resistance” and its related Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) for young doctoral and post-doctoral researchers will be sometime in March 2028. The organizers hope to coordinate dates and location with the 2028 BEAM-AMR meeting. Details to follow — mark your calendar!

Self-paced courses, online training materials, and other reference materials:

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”.
GARDP’s REVIVE website provides an encyclopedia covering a range of R&D terms, recordings of prior GARDP webinars, a variety of viewpoint articles, and more! Check it out!
GARDP’s https://antibioticdb.com/ is an open-access database of antibacterial agents.
The CARB-X website provides a range of recordings from its webinars, bootcamps, and more. A bit of browsing would be time well spent!
British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy offers an eLearning section: Education – The British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.

Current funding opportunities

CARB-X have announced a funding round that will be open 8-22 April 2026 (there will also be a round during 4Q 2026). There are 4 funding themes as below. Informational webinars have been announced for 9 and 10 April 2026.
- Direct-acting therapeutics for infections caused by Gram-negative bacteria
- Novel Chemistry for AMR Challenge – target-based therapeutics.
- Non-vaccine approaches to prevent neonatal sepsis
- Diagnostics for neonatal sepsis
The Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026-2027 includes at least 3 calls of interest within its Cluster 1 — see the list below. The application window starts 10 Feb 2026 and closes on 16 Apr 2026. See also the 12 Dec 2025 newsletter about the call. Note as well that there calls for agents to prevent and/or treat viral infections.
- HORIZON-HLTH-2027-01-DISEASE-08: Development of innovative antimicrobials against pathogens resistant to antimicrobials
- HORIZON-HLTH-2027-02-IND-02: Portable point-of-care diagnostics
- HORIZON-HLTH-2026-01-DISEASE-03:Advancing research on the prevention, diagnosis, and management of post-infection long-term conditions.
ENABLE-2 has continuously open calls for both its Hit-to-Lead program as well as its Hit Identification/Validation incubator. Applicants must be academics and non-profits in Europe due to restrictions from the funders. Applications are evaluated in cycles … see the website for details on current timing for reviews.
BARDA’s long-running BAA (Broad Agency Announcement) for medical countermeasures (MCMs) for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) threats, pandemic influenza, and emerging infectious diseases is now BAA-23-100-SOL-00004 and offers support for both antibacterial and antifungal agents (as well as antivirals, antitoxins, diagnostics, and more). Note especially these Areas of Interest: Area 3.1 (MDR Bacteria and Biothreat Pathogens), Area 3.2 (MDR Fungal Infections), and Area 7.2 (Antibiotic Resistance Diagnostics for Priority Bacterial Pathogens). Although prior BAAs used a rolling cycle of 4 deadlines/year, the updated BAA released 26 Sep 2023 has a 5-year application period that ends 25 Sep 2028 and is open to applicants regardless of location: BARDA seeks the best science from anywhere in the world! See also this newsletter for further comments on the BAA and its areas of interest.
HERA Invest was launched August 2023 with €100 million to support innovative EU-based SMEs in the early and late phases of clinical trials. Part of the InvestEU program supporting sustainable investment, innovation, and job creation in Europe, HERA Invest is open for application to companies developing medical countermeasures that address one of the following cross-border health threats: (i) Pathogens with pandemic or epidemic potential, (ii) Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) threats originating from accidental or deliberate release, and (iii) Antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Non-dilutive venture loans covering up to 50% of investment costs are available. A closing date is not posted insofar as I can see — applications are accepted on a rolling basis; go here for more details.
The AMR Action Fund is open on an ongoing basis 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.
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
- 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. See also the 7 Feb 2026 newsletter (“The global funding pipeline, 2017-2023: A review”) about an excellent deep dive by the Hub team into patterns of funding over time.
- Antimicrobial Resistance Research and Innovation in Australia is an actively updated summary that covers Australia’s AMR research and patent landscape. It is provided via collaboration between The Lens (an ambitious project seeking to discover, analyse, and map global innovation knowledge) and CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, an Australian Government agency responsible for scientific research). Lots to explore here!
- 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).