WHO – AMR.Solutions https://amr.solutions Antimicrobial Resistance Solutions with Dr. John H. Rex Sun, 05 Jul 2026 18:34:55 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://amr.solutions/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Fire-Extinguisher-icon-70x70.png WHO – AMR.Solutions https://amr.solutions 32 32 WHO Webinars: Pediatric antibiotic R&D and Bacteriophage Community of Practice https://amr.solutions/2026/07/03/who-webinars-pediatric-antibiotic-rd-and-bacteriophage-community-of-practice/ Fri, 03 Jul 2026 21:04:16 +0000 https://amr.solutions/?p=25654

Dear All:

Two important webinars have just been announced!

  • 22 July (virtual, 2-3.30p CET): The WHO AMR Department and the WHO GAP-r (Global Accelerator for Pediatric Formulations) are hosting an industry dialogue on pediatric and neonatal antibiotic development:
    • The discussion will cover timing of pediatric and neonatal studies, extrapolation from adult data, feasibility of trial designs in children and neonates, and variability in regulatory expectations across jurisdictions.
    • This topic is a long-standing source of frustration for developers (see the 7 Apr 2021 newsletter: “Developing antibiotics for children: There are no easy answers”) and I am glad to see WHO convening discussions on ways to facilitate pediatric work! 
    • Go here to register.

 

  • 27 July (virtual, 2-3.30p CET): Inaugural webinar of the WHO Bacteriophage Community of Practice (CoP), a global platform for knowledge exchange across the bacteriophage ecosystem.
    • The CoP builds on the community previously hosted by the WHO Regional Office for Europe and aims to connect stakeholders across research, clinical development, regulation, and policy.
    • The webinar will present findings from a global bacteriophage ecosystem survey, highlight the activities of key regional and international phage networks, and explore shared priorities and opportunities for future collaboration.
    • You can register for the webinar here. 
    • You will also want to join the CoP itself — for this, you need a free account WHO Integrated Health Services (IHS) Hub account; look for  “WHO AMR Community Exchange” and then for the “Bacteriophage group” under “Explore our groups.”
    • You might also be interested in the previously recorded phage-related webinars discussed in the 12 May 2024 newsletter entitled “Environmental, Animal, and Human Uses of Phage: WHO webinars”


And that’s it for today! Happy summer! Stay cool! 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!

  • [LATE-BREAKER ABSTRACTS open soon] 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 — register now as early-bird rates end on 15 July! 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. 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:

  • [NEW] 22 July (virtual, 2-3.30p CET): The WHO AMR Department and the WHO GAP-r (Global Accelerator for Pediatric Formulations) are hosting an industry dialogue on pediatric and neonatal antibiotic development. The discussion will cover timing of pediatric and neonatal studies, extrapolation from adult data, feasibility of trial designs in children and neonates, and variability in regulatory expectations across jurisdictions. This topic is a long-standing source of frustration for developers (see the 7 Apr 2021 newsletter: “Developing antibiotics for children: There are no easy answers”) and I am glad to see WHO convening discussions on ways to facilitate pediatric work! Go here to register.
  • [NEW] 27 July (virtual, 2-3.30p CET): Inaugural webinar of the WHO Bacteriophage Community of Practice (CoP), a global platform for knowledge exchange across the bacteriophage ecosystem. You can register for the webinar here. You will also want to join the CoP itself — for this, you need a free account WHO Integrated Health Services (IHS) Hub account; look for  “WHO AMR Community Exchange” and then for the “Bacteriophage group” under “Explore our groups.”
  • 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 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.
  • [NEW] 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:

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.
  • 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).
]]> WHO: New TPPs for antibacterial agents https://amr.solutions/2026/03/23/who-new-tpps-for-antibacterial-agents/ Mon, 23 Mar 2026 13:37:07 +0000 https://amr.solutions/?p=25296

Dear All,

You may recall that in 2019-2020, WHO developed a set of TPPs (TPP = Target Product Profile = A description of the desired attributes of a drug) as guides for developers (see the 1 Sep 2019 newsletter for the original call for input and the link to the final set of TPPs). These initial TPPs covered:

  • Enteric fever
  • Gonorrhea
  • Neonatal sepsis
  • Urinary tract infections


Based on the 2024 BPPL (Bacterial Priority Pathogen List (see https://amr.solutions/pathogens-and-pipelines/ for the BPPL as well as a PowerPoint deck summarizing all PPLs to date), WHO have now developed a further set of TPPs for three syndromes with particularly high levels of unmet need due to associated mortality and morbidity:

  • Severe infections caused by multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria
    • The focus here is on novel antibiotics for bloodstream infections and hospital-acquired or ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia caused by cephalosporin- and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales as well as carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
  • Therapy of antibiotic-resistant Gram-positive infections in immunosuppressed and critically ill patients
    • The focus here is on novel antibiotics for severe infections, including bloodstream infections, caused by vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), including vancomycin-resistant E. faecium (VREF).
  • Community-acquired and healthcare-associated bacterial meningitis
    • The focus here is on novel antibiotics for community-acquired meningitis caused by penicillin- and cephalosporin-resistant bacteria as well as healthcare-associated (e.g., neurosurgical) meningitis caused by multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria and methicillin-resistant S. aureus.

Here are the links you need for the new TPPs:


TPPs are interesting tools … yes, entirely aspirational, but they do help guide research direction and they provide messages about antibiotic value that support the emerging scoring systems for Pull incentives. Well done, Team WHO!

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!

  • 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.
  • [REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN!] 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 meeting is here and the video from the sessions is now available here. Registration opens 1 March 2026; the abstract submission window will be 10-31 March 2026 with a late-breaker window in 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:

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).
]]> WHO Bacterial Priority Pathogen List (PPL): 2024 update https://amr.solutions/2024/05/18/who-bacterial-priority-pathogen-list-ppl-2024-update/ Sat, 18 May 2024 19:29:12 +0000 https://13.43.35.2/?p=12052

Dear All,

WHO have just released a 2024 update to their 2017 (bacterial) Priority Pathogen List (PPL)! Here are the links you need:

To create the update, WHO have again used MCDA (multi-criteria decision analysis) based on mortality, incidence, non-fatal burden, resistance trends, transmissibility, preventability, treatability, and pipeline quality as ranking factors. Highest weight went to treatability and mortality. Equal but lesser weight went to incidence, non-fatal burden, transmissibility, and preventability. 

The changes in the WHO PPL relative to their 2017 PPL and to other PPLs are best considered visually. To get adequate resolution in the chart, I suggest you download the .pptx (or the .pdf) of my cross-tabulation of the PPLs to date.

Summary of the various priority pathogen lists

In brief, here are the key changes relative to WHO’s 2017 PPL:

  • Carbapenemase-producing P. aeruginosa moves down from Critical to High.
    • This may seem a bit surprising, but the report explains that reduction in rates of resistance and lower transmissibility caused this shift.
    • The report also notes that the GBD (global burden of disease) due to P. aeruginosa is significant but at the lower end of the major pathogens (see the 29 Apr 2024 and 20 Jan 2022 newsletters on GBD due to infection and resistance for more details).
    • I also note that this shift aligns with CDC’s 2019 ranking of this pathogen as Serious rather than Critical.
  • Removed: Clarithromycin-resistant Helicobacter pylori and fluoroquinolone-resistant Campylobacter spp.
  • Added: Macrolide-resistant Group A Streptococci, penicillin-resistant Group B Streptococci (note that CDC also has these organisms as Concerning)
  • Tweaked: Penicillin-non-susceptible Streptococcus pneumoniae becomes Macrolide-R S. pneumoniae; MRSA (methicillin-resistant S. aureus) is retained but vancomycin-I/R is dropped.
  • Re-arranged: A bit of shuffling has gone on at the genus level within the Enterobacterales (Enterobacteriaceae) but we retain the carbapenem-R and ESBL groups as Critical.
  • Added as a standalone: Rifampin-resistant M. tuberculosis is now added at the Critical level rather than just being a shout-out as it was in 2017. This also aligns with CDC having included it as Serious in their PPLs.

These focused and carefully targeted updates all make good sense to me as an evolution in our common goals. The PPLs are fundamental to the targeting of the global R&D ecosystem and having a globally similar set of relative stable goals is necessary given the enormous amount of work (and time) required to bring forward new therapies (see the 9 April 2024 newsletter entitled “48,015 → 0: Antibacterial Discovery Is Hard. Really, Really Hard” if you need a refresh on this).

Well done to the WHO and its colleagues! Per the methods, this was an extensive review involving colleagues from around the world … many thanks to all for their time and effort!

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.

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).


John’s Top Recurring Meetings
Virtual meetings are easy to attend, but regular attendance at annual in-person events is the key to building your network and gaining deeper insight. My personal favorites for such in-person meetings are below. Of particular value for developers are the AMR Conference and the ASM-ESCMID conference. Hope to see you there!

  • [REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN] 17-20 Sep 2024 (Porto, Portugal): ASM/ESCMID Joint Conference on Drug Development to Meet the Challenge of Antimicrobial Resistance. Go here to register!
  • 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! 
  • 11-15 April 2025 (Vienna, Austria): ESCMID Global 2025, the annual meeting of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. Go here for details. 

 

Upcoming meetings of interest to the AMR community:

  • 14 May 2024 (French Embassy, Washington, DC, in person, 3-7p ET): Jointly sponsored by bioMérieux and the French Embassy in the United States, an in-person event entitled “Rising to the Challenge: United against Antimicrobial Resistance.” This program will focus on AMR with a diagnostic twist. Go here to register. Deadline to register is 6 May and space is limited, so move quickly to signup if you are in the DC area on that day.
  • 14 May 2024 (New York City, NY, in person and online, 6-8p ET): Jointly sponsored by FP and IFPMA, we have an event entitled “From Resistance to Resilience: Reinforcing the response to AMR.” If you are in NYC instead of DC, you can attend instead this event that IFPMA is organizing in partnership with Foreign Policy (FP) just before the UN AMR Multistakeholder Hearings. Go here to register; I don’t see a registration deadline but would assume you should move quickly!
  • 15 May 2024 application deadline: There are 11 fully funded PhD training slots for MYCOS, a training program focused on research on antifungal resistance based on a One Health Approach. The program is based in Austria at the Medical University Innsbruck (MUI) and the University of Innsbruck (UIBK). Go here for details and to apply.
  • 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.
  • [NEW] 22 May 2024 (in person, Washington, DC, Capital Visitor’s Center, 5p ET): Additional screening of HOLOBIOME. See discussion just above of the PACCARB-related screening. Go here for details and to register.
  • 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.
  • [NEW] 27 June 2024 (virtual, 5p-630p CEST): GARDP REVIVE Webinar “Progressing an antibacterial drug discovery project – an SME perspective”. Click here for 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.
  • 11-15 April 2025 (Vienna, Austria): ESCMID Global 2025, the annual meeting of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. See Recurring Meetings list, above.
]]> Antibiotic supply chains: Challenges & Opportunities https://amr.solutions/2022/05/04/antibiotic-supply-chains-challenges-opportunities/ Thu, 05 May 2022 00:20:58 +0000 https://13.43.35.2/?p=7561

Dear All,

In a report entitled Understanding the Antibiotic Manufacturing Ecosystem: A view of global supply chains, pressure points, and implications for antimicrobial resistance response, the Boston Consulting Group and Wellcome Trust have examined at length the questions of (i) how the #FireExtinguishersOfMedicine are made and (ii) how they can be made with the least impact on the environment.

To see all this in context, there are are two parallel threads to consider. First, COVID has taught us about the fragile nature of supply chains in general. Antibiotics definitely have fragile supply chains and you can get a flavor of this by scanning this 2018 article in Forbes, this 2021 paper in BMJ Global Health, and FDA’s Drug Shortage webpage. Second, manufacturing discharges can themselves drive antibiotic resistance — ATMF’s 2021 review is a good summary of the problem. The need for responsible approaches to manufacturing was also clearly called out in proposals to establish environmental discharge from the AMR Industry Alliance. Notably, the AMR Industry Alliance (AMRIA) will publish an industry standard next month which, together with an independent certification scheme (expected in early 2023), could provide a mechanism to drive adoption of risk based, cost effective controls to minimize antibiotic emissions across the global supply chain and provide means by which manufacturers can give assurance of responsibly made antibiotics.

Addendum: the AMRIA published its Antibiotic Manufacturing Standard on 14 June 2022. See https://www.amrindustryalliance.org/shared-goals/common-antibiotic-manufacturing-framework/ for details, including research-based Predicted No-Effect Concentrations (PNECs). In collaboration with BSI (British Standards Institution), there is also an industry certification scheme. See also the 25 Sep 2023 newsletter for a further discussion of this scheme.

So, this new report analyzes the impact of possible environmental regulatory changes on antibiotic supply. The report starts from a very practical concern — it regulatory changes increase manufacturing costs, will manufacturing decline?

There are some excellent figures throughout the report but I wanted to share these two in particular. Production of antibiotics is not simple and, unfortunately, antibiotic discharge does happen. Note in particular (2nd figure) that most of the manufacturing happens in two of the most densely populated countries in the world:

In terms of the impact of environmental regulation to curb this issue, it really boils down to someone paying more and at what scale. If it is the developers, we all know how tough it is to just keep the lights on once you’ve made a new antibiotic. If it is the consumers, no one ever wants to pay more if they can help it. And, none of us will be happy if we break the supply chains for critical antibiotics! But how likely is this if new environmental regulation was introduced?

I encourage you to read the report yourself, but findings suggest environmental regulation can be compatible with strong antibiotic supply chains. However, policies should be developed in a supply chain-sensitive way and complimented with supportive measures for at-risk supply chains. The key being (no surprise!) to take a number of pragmatic steps in parallel. These include:

  • Evidence-based discharge limits
  • Standardized methods for monitoring discharge
  • Cost-efficient processes for meeting and monitoring compliance with the targets
  • Ambitious but feasible timelines for implementation
  • Consideration of the fragility of individual supply chains with an eye to ensuring that supply chains for critical antibiotics are not broken
  • International coordination on all the above, including actions by net-importers

The report suggests that the WHO and G7/G20 need to take the lead: global government action will be needed to change the way we develop and use antibiotics. Now is the time to include changing the way we manufacture them as part of this global effort!

Well done, BCG and Wellcome Trust! –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.

Current funding opportunities (most current list is here):

  • JPIAMR’s 14th call is now open. Entitled “Disrupting drug resistance using innovative design”, the call seeks consortia that would seek to “improve the treatment of bacterial and fungal infections (including co-infection) and/or the prevention of the emergence/spread of resistance in humans, animals or plants through the improvement of the efficacy, specificity, delivery, combinations and/or repurposing of drugs and plant protection agents.” Bacteria, fungi, human health, animal health, and plant health are all in scope! Pre-proposals are due 8 Mar 2022; full proposals would be due 5 July 2022. Go here for details.
  • The AMR Action Fund is now open 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 a newly launched early-stage funding vehicle. Details are still coming into focus, but per comments on 25 Aug 2021 at the BIOCOM conference, their goal is to support ~4 companies per year with about $250k/company. Contact details are on their website (https://www.incate.net/).
  • CARB-X recently announced that their existing resources will be reserved to fund their existing portfolio (more than 80 total awards, and counting, as they include contracting from prior rounds). New rounds from CARB-X will occur only after new funding is obtained in 2021.
  • It’s not a funder, but 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.
  • 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).


Upcoming meetings of interest to the AMR community (most current list is here):

  • 8 Dec 2021: “The New Winds Pushing and Pulling Antibacterial Development.” This FABULOUS program featured talks from the UK team behind the NHS “Netflix” pilot, Kevin Outterson’s recently released report documenting the need for global Pull incentives to have a value of $2.2 – 4.8b, and speakers covering PASTEUR and work in the EU on pull incentives. The video is here — please make time to listen to this program!
  • The stunning 4 Feb 2022 webinar for the GRAM report (Global Research on Antimicrobial Resistance “1.27 million deaths per year are directly attributable to AMR”) is now available for replay. #AMRSOS! 
  • [NEW] 13 May 2022 (Strasbourg, France): AC21 Workshop: “Pre-clinical development of antimicrobial peptides”, with contributions from the AC21 member universities in Stellenbosch, South Africa, Minneapolis, USA, Freiburg, Germany and Strasbourg, France as well as from other institutions. Participation is free and open to non-member institutions but registration is required. Supported by Academic Consortium 21. Go here for details.
  • 16-18 June 2022 (Perth, Australia): Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases Annual Scientific Meeting is a hybrid event for adult and pediatric infectious disease and clinical microbiology specialists. Go here for details.
  • 11-14 July 2022 (Sydney): Australian Society for Microbiology Annual National Meeting is a hybrid event that will feature a range of lectures and symposium sessions, as well as extensive opportunities for networking. Go here for details.
  • 24-27 July 2022 (Il Ciocco, Tuscany): Gordon Research Conference entitled “New Antibacterial Discovery and Development”. Go here for details, go here for the linked 5-6 Mar Gordon Research Seminar that precedes it.
  • 28-31 July 2022 (Singapore): 10th International Congress of Asia Pacific Society of Infection Control is a hybrid event for professionals in the Asia Pacific region. Go here for details.
  • 20-24 Sep 2022 (New Delhi): 21st Congress of the International Society for Human and Animal Mycology (ISHAM). Go here for details.
  • [NEW] 4-7 Oct 2022 (Dublin, Ireland): The 2022 ASM/ESCMID Joint Conference on Drug Development to Meet the Challenge of Antimicrobial Resistance. This is an excellent meeting, especially for developers … and if you’ve missed it, the recordings from the 2021 meeting are online. Go here for details on the 2022 meeting.
  • 19-23 Oct 2022 (Washington, DC): IDWeek 2022, the joint annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA), the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (PIDS), and the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists (SIDP). Go here for details.
  • 15-23 Oct 2022 (in person, residential, Les Pensières, Veyrier-du-Lac, France): The 6th edition of Patrice Courvalin’s fabulous ICARe residential training course covering all things AMR is on for 2022! This is a soup-to-nuts training in AMR: it is very intense, very detailed, and always gets rave reviews from attendees. Registration is open 21 Mar 2022 to 21 June 2022 and is limited, so book your slot as soon as you can. Go here for more: https://www.icarecourse.org/
  • 19-23 Oct 2022 (Washington, DC): IDWeek 2022, the joint annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA), the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (PIDS), and the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists (SIDP). Go here for details.
  • 25-28 Oct 2022 (Stellenbosch, South Africa): The University of Cape Town’s H3D Research Centre will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a symposium covering the Centre’s research on Malaria, TB, Neglected Tropical Diseases, and AMR. Go here to register.
  • 27-30 Nov 2022 (Perth, Australia): 32nd International Congress of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy is the biennial congress of the International Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (ISAC). Go here for details.
]]> WHO Vaccine pipeline review; CDC on impact of COVID on AMR https://amr.solutions/2022/07/14/who-vaccine-pipeline-review-cdc-on-impact-of-covid-on-amr/ Fri, 15 Jul 2022 01:56:33 +0000 https://13.43.35.2/?p=8009

See also

Dear All, WHO continues to crank out those pipeline reviews … now we have one for bacterial vaccines! Go here for the press release and here for the report. The report considers data from 2010 forward and (interestingly) provides data on both active and failed projects. The review identified 94 active preclinical candidates and 61 projects in the clinic. The distribution of clinical projects is instructive:

In the figure, BPPL = Bacterial Priority Pathogen List (go here if you need to see the current priority pathogen lists). You can thus see that we have reasonable coverage of Medium and High priority pathogens, but Critical pathogens are not well served.

Unfortunately, that gap in vaccine spectrum is unlikely to be fixed. As the report notes, “six pathogens from the WHO priority pathogens list (A. baumannii, P. aeruginosa, Enterobacter spp., E. faecium, S. aureus, and H. pylori) … were found to have low feasibility for vaccine development due to biological and other product development challenges.” Sad, but true! A real strength of the report is its discussion of the likelihood of success of the various types of projects; for more on feasibility issues, see also this 29 Mar 2021 newsletter on WHO’s Immunization Agenda 2030: A Global Strategy to Leave No One Behind.

—
CDC has just released a review on the impact of COVID-19 on AMR. Go here for the press release and here for the report. The key finding can be stated briefly: “resistant hospital-onset infections and deaths both increased at least 15% during the first year of the pandemic.” The results varied somewhat by pathogen (see table at the top of report page 6) with the sharpest increase being a 78% rise in the incidence of carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter. Ugh!

Sadly, this result would seem predictable based on a prior CDC NHSN report (Weiner-Lastinger 2021, doi:10.1017/ice.2021.362)  showing significant increases during 2020 in rates of central-line-associated bloodstream infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, ventilator-associated events, and MRSA bacteremia.

Many thanks to our colleagues at CDC for compiling and sharing these data! Now is the time for action at levels of the AMR ecosystem. Prevention, stewardship, new diagnostics, new therapeutics are needed! Let’s get the PASTEUR Act passed!

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.

Current funding opportunities (most current list is here)


Upcoming meetings of interest to the AMR community (most current list is here):

  • [NEW] 20 Jul 2022 (virtual. 11a-noon ET): Pfizer– and CQ Roll Call-sponsored webinar entitled “Superbugs: Policy Solutions to Tackle an Emerging Health Threat.” This webinar will feature Senators Todd Young (R-IN) and Michael Bennet (D-CO), the senate sponsors of the PASTEUR Act! Don’t miss it! Go here to register.
  • 26 July 2022 (virtual, 10a-11.30a ET): REVIVE webinar entitled “New approaches for antibiotic discovery”. Go here for details. 
  • 24-27 July 2022 (Il Ciocco, Tuscany): Gordon Research Conference entitled “New Antibacterial Discovery and Development”. Go here for details, go here for the linked 5-6 Mar Gordon Research Seminar that precedes it.
  • 28-31 July 2022 (Singapore): 10th International Congress of Asia Pacific Society of Infection Control is a hybrid event for professionals in the Asia Pacific region. Go here for details and to register.
  • 10 Aug 2022 (virtual, 11a-12.30p ET): REVIVE webinar entitled “Animal models to study the activity of antibiotics.” Go here for details. 
  • 10 Aug 2022 (virtual, 10a-4.30p ET): USDA ‘s APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service) will host a public meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance. Co-hosted with USDA’s FSIS (Food Safety Inspection Service) and REE (Research, Education and Economics) mission area, the webinar will review lessons learned since the first AMR workshop 2012 as well as discuss plans for the future. Go here to register.
  • 23 August 2022 (virtual, 11a-12.30p ET): REVIVE webinar entitled “The Challenges and options in developing antibiotic combinations.” Go here for details. 
  • 30 August 2022 (virtual, 8.30a-5.00p ET): Webinar sponsored by CDC and FDA entitled “Drug Development Considerations for the Prevention of Healthcare-Associated Infections.” This is very timely as developing products for prevention is surprisingly hard. As just one example, see this 20 Dec 2018 newsletter about a valiant  (but failed, sadly) effort to develop a S. aureus vaccine. Go here for additional details and to register. 
  • 12-13 Sep 2022 (virtual, 9a-5p ET): This meeting of PACCARB is going to “identify key issues and critical policy gaps through a series of facilitated discussions examining a hypothetical large-scale disease outbreak scenario based on historic examples and estimates of future AMR outbreaks.” Sounds like pandemic wargaming (Center for Health Security; pre-COVID 19 May 2020 NPR article) to me! Go here for details.
  • 20-24 Sep 2022 (New Delhi): 21st Congress of the International Society for Human and Animal Mycology (ISHAM). Go here for details.
  • 4-7 Oct 2022 (Dublin, Ireland): The 2022 ASM/ESCMID Joint Conference on Drug Development to Meet the Challenge of Antimicrobial Resistance. This is an excellent meeting, especially for developers … and if you’ve missed it, the recordings from the 2021 meeting are online. Go here for details on the 2022 meeting.
  • 19-23 Oct 2022 (Washington, DC): IDWeek 2022, the joint annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA), the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (PIDS), and the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists (SIDP). Go here for details.
    • [NEW] IDWeek has opened pipeline sessions for antibacterials, antifungals, and non-HIV, non-COVID antivirals as well as for diagnostics (no limitations). Go here to submit your abstract; this 14 July 2022 newsletter contains some additional details.
  • 15-23 Oct 2022 (in person, residential, Les Pensières, Veyrier-du-Lac, France): The 6th edition of Patrice Courvalin’s fabulous ICARe residential training course covering all things AMR is on for 2022! This is a soup-to-nuts training in AMR: it is very intense, very detailed, and always gets rave reviews from attendees. Registration is open 21 Mar 2022 to 21 June 2022 and is limited, so book your slot as soon as you can. Go here for details.
  • 19-23 Oct 2022 (Washington, DC): IDWeek 2022, the joint annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA), the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (PIDS), and the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists (SIDP). Go here for details.
  • [NEW] 23 Oct 2022 (Cape Town, South Africa): Symposium entitled “Tackling AMR: How implementation research is vital in a One Health approach” that is sponsored by the AMR knowledge hub of TGHN (The Global Health Network). Go here for details.
  • 25-28 Oct 2022 (Stellenbosch, South Africa): The University of Cape Town’s H3D Research Centre will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a symposium covering the Centre’s research on Malaria, TB, Neglected Tropical Diseases, and AMR. Go here to register.
  • 17-20 Nov 2022 (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia): The International Congress on Infectious Diseases will take place for the first time as a hybrid event. Go here for details. 
  • 27-30 Nov 2022 (Perth, Australia): 32nd International Congress of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy is the biennial congress of the International Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (ISAC). Go here for details.
]]> Two things: WHO’s looking GLASS + FDA’s advances with PDUFA VI https://amr.solutions/2018/02/06/two-things-whos-looking-glass-fdas-advances-with-pdufa-vi/ https://amr.solutions/2018/02/06/two-things-whos-looking-glass-fdas-advances-with-pdufa-vi/#respond Tue, 06 Feb 2018 10:08:08 +0000 https://13.43.35.2/?p=144

Dear All: Two things today. Unrelated, but both relevant!

WHO’s GLASS: WHO’s Global Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System (GLASS) was created during October 2015 and seeks to obtain coordinated and consistent global estimates on resistance rates. In a major report released on 29 Jan 2018, GLASS now provides provides official national AMR data for the period 2016-17 from 40 countries based on testing of 507,746 isolates of Acinetobacter spp., Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus pneumoniae. Participating countries span the globe:

Picture


​The good news is that GLASS exists and that countries are making progress on creating National Coordination Centres (NCCs), National Reference Laboratories (NRLs), and sentinel surveillance sites. Progress is (no surprise) somewhat uneven, but the real point is that progress is happening.

The bad news is that substantial rates of resistance are seen world-wide. There is no single best way to summarize this, but here is an example of a resistance rate summary that you can find in the report (x-axis is % non-susceptible). Note the nearly 25% rate of imipenem resistance!

Picture

Scary!

FDA & PDUFA VI: FDA posted a small business-focused analysis of PDUFA VI back in November 2017 that I only recently learned about. As a reminder, the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) has been an evolving legislative series by which FDA collects fees that it then uses to make the drug review process more efficient while not compromising drug safety. There are many changes in PDUFA VI (please see the full summary here), but these are notable to my eye:

  • Early Consultation on the Use of New Surrogate Endpoints: Early consultation between the FDA and sponsors can now occur when the sponsor intends to use a biomarker as a new surrogate endpoint that has never been previously used as the primary basis for product approval in the proposed context of use.
  • Advancing Development of Drugs for Rare Diseases:  CDER’s Rare Disease Program staff will provide their expertise on approaches to studying and reviewing such drugs, continue to foster collaborations in the development of tools and data to support rare disease drug development, and facilitate interactions to increase awareness of FDA programs and engagement of patients in the decision-making process.
  • Advancing the Use of Complex Innovative Trial Designs and Model Informed Drug Development: FDA will conduct activities to facilitate the development and application of exposure-based, biological, and statistical models derived from preclinical and clinical data sources.

I hope you’ll quickly see why these are relevant to antimicobial agents: we’ve mused on surrogate endpoints (but time courses for major infections are so quick that it’s generally better to just get a real endpoint), we’ve discussed at length the problem of rare species (see materials from the 13 April 2017 AMDAC plus my blog on same), and we debated the question of alternative trial designs during the 18-19 July 2016 workshop discussion of hypothetical Drug X-1.

And, this sheds some light on the recently announced Duke-Margolis 1-day workshop on inclusion and exclusion criteria in clinical trials on 16 April 2018 as part of a cooperative agreement with FDA (corresponding FR notice) which will “discuss a variety of topics related to eligibility criteria in clinical trials and their potential impact on patient access to investigational drugs, and how to facilitate the enrollment of a diverse patient population.”

It all makes your head spin! Although we don’t know the pace with which all this will happen, it certainly reminds me of Picabia’s comment that “Our heads are round so our thoughts can change direction.” 

Buckle up! –jr

John H. Rex, MD | Chief Medical Officer, F2G Ltd. | Expert-in-Residence, Wellcome Trust. Follow me on Twitter: @JohnRex_NewAbx. See past newsletters and subscribe for the future: https://13.43.35.2/blog/

Upcoming meetings of interest to the AMR community:

]]> https://amr.solutions/2018/02/06/two-things-whos-looking-glass-fdas-advances-with-pdufa-vi/feed/ 0 WHO: Draft TPPs for MDR bacterial infections https://amr.solutions/2025/08/13/who-draft-tpps-for-mdr-bacterial-infections/ Wed, 13 Aug 2025 23:58:42 +0000 https://amr.solutions/?p=18535

Dear All,

Back in 2019-2020, WHO developed a set of TPPs (TPP = Target Product Profile = A description of the desired attributes of a drug) for products for enteric fever, gonorrhea, neonatal sepsis, and urinary tract infections as guides for developers (see the 1 Sep 2019 newsletter for the original call for input and the link to the final set of TPPs).

WHO are now working to develop TPPs for products for 3 more infections:

  • Therapy of severe infections caused by multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria, focusing on novel antibiotics for bloodstream infections and hospital-acquired or ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia caused by third-generation cephalosporin- and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales, and carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

  • Therapy of antibiotic-resistant Gram-positive infections in immunosuppressed and critically ill patients, focusing on novel antibiotics for severe infections, including bloodstream infections, caused by vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium and other Gram-positive bacteria, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase-negative staphylococci.

  • Therapy of community-acquired and healthcare-associated bacterial meningitis, focusing on novel antibiotics for community-acquired meningitis caused by penicillin- and cephalosporin-resistant bacteria, and healthcare-associated, e.g., neurosurgical meningitis, caused by multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus .

WHO have drafted TPPs for all 3 of these infections and are now requesting your input. To get involved, here are the links you need:

The overall goal is to support the development of urgently needed antibiotics to address drug-resistant bacterial infections with high morbidity and mortality, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

That’s a great goal and now it’s time for you to help! Feedback is requested by 7 Sep 2025. Please take a look!

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.

Current funding opportunities

  • The AMR Industry Alliance is again offering a Stewardship Prize of 10,000 CHF to recognize innovative approaches to combating AMR in low-to-moderate-income countries. This year’s prize focuses on utilizing diagnostics in stewardship efforts. Applications are due by 1 Sep 2025. Go here for details and to apply.
  • NNF (Novo Nordisk Foundation) have announced their “Challenge Programme 2026 – Unravelling the Pathways of Human Invasive Fungal Diseases. The call seeks applications from EU-centered consortia (global partners are possible) for research in 4 areas: (i) fungal virulence factors, (ii) host-pathogen interactions, (iii) mechanisms of anti-fungal resistance, and (iv) fungal disease markers. Applications are due by 8 Oct 2025. Go here for details. 
  • 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. 
  • CARB-X will have two calls during 2025 that span two areas: (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. The first cycle is now closed (it ran16-30 April 2025); the 2nd round will be open 1-12 Dec 2025.
  • 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).

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!

  • 1-3 Oct 2025 GAMRIC, the Global AMR Innovators Conference (London, UK). Formerly the ESCMID-ASM Joint Conference on Drug Development for AMR, this meeting series is now in its 10th year and is being continued under the joint sponsorship of CARB-X, ESCMID, BEAM Alliance, GARDP, LifeArc, Boston University, and AMR.Solutions. The ongoing series will continue the successful format of prior meetings with a single-track meeting and substantial networking time (go here to see details of the outstanding 2024 meeting).
    • Registration is now open and the preliminary agenda can be found at that same link (https://www.gamric.org/). The meeting will be limited to approximately 300 attendees, so please be sure to register promptly to avoid disappointment! 
    • The abstract submission window (same link as registration) runs until 13 June.
    • Application for travel grants (same link as registration) are accepted through 2 June.
  • 19-22 Oct 2025 (Georgia, USA): IDWeek 2025, the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Go here to register. For those who would like a substantial opportunity to present a product to a large audience (see also adjacent note about ESCMID), note the call for applications to present at an IDWeek Pipeline Session; go here to submit an application for your compound or diagnostic.
  • 3-4 Mar 2026 (Basel, Switzerland): The 10th AMR Conference. Sponsored by the BEAM Alliance, the 9th AMR Conference has just concluded and it’s again been an excellent meeting! Please mark your calendar for next year. You can’t register yet, but details will appear here! 
  • 17-21 April 2026 (Munich, Germany): ESCMID Global 2026, the annual meeting of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. You can’t register yet, but you can go here for details on the outstanding 2025 meeting. 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; go here to see details from 2025.

  Upcoming meetings of interest to the AMR community:

  • [NEW] 19 Aug 2022 (virtual, 11a-12.30p EST) Webinar entitled “Challenges and opportunities in the treatment of syphilis”, organized by GARDP REVIVE. Go here to register. Note also that recordings of prior REVIVE webinars are available for replay.
  • 9 Sep 2022 (virtual, 9.30-11.00 CEST) Webinar entitled “Overcoming challenges of tuberculosis drug discovery and development”, organized by GARDP REVIVE. Go here to register. Note also that recordings of prior REVIVE webinars are available for replay.
  • 10-11 Sep 2025 (Ghent, BE): Organized by a group at Ghent University in collaboration with the ESCMID Study Group for Non-Traditional Antibacterial Therapy (ESGNTA), the Phage Protein Meeting is an interdisciplinary conference dedicated to advancing the field of phage proteins for infection control that seeks to bring together academic researchers and professionals working with phage proteins such as phage lysins, tail fibers, tailspikes, depolymerases, and tailocins. Note that the focus here is on phage proteins rather than phage themselves. Go here for details and to register.
  • 12 Sep 2025 (Ghent, BE): The 10-11 Sep 2025 meeting just above is followed in Ghent on 12 Sep by the 4th annual meeting of BSVoM (Belgian Society for Viruses of Microbes). This meeting is broader than therapeutics, providing an “interdisciplinary perspective on virus of microbes, ranging from basic research to industrial developments and clinical use.” Go here for details.
  • 10-13 Sep 2025 (Lisbon, Portugal): 6th ESCMID Conference on Vaccines. Go here for details.
  • 15-19 Sep 2025 (virtual): US CDC-sponsored the 9th Annual Fungal Disease Awareness Week (FDAW). Daily themed events include “Think Fungus” on 15 Sep, “Fungi are everywhere” on 16 Sep, and “Fungal diseases and drug resistance (19 Sep). Signup for the Mycotic Diseases Branch newsletter to stay updated.
  • 1-3 Oct 2025 GAMRIC, 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..
  • 11-19 Oct 2025 (Annecy, France, residential in-person program): ICARe (Interdisciplinary Course on Antibiotics and Resistance) … and 2025 will be the 9th year for this program. Patrice Courvalin orchestrates content with the support of an all-star scientific committee and faculty. The resulting soup-to-nuts training covers all aspects of antimicrobials, is very intense, and routinely gets rave reviews! Seating is limited, so mark your calendars now if you are interested. Applications are being accepted from 20 Mar to 21 Jun 2025 — go here for more details.
  • 17-20 Sep 2025 (Porto, PT): 14th International Meeting on Microbial Epidemiological Markers (IMMEM XIV). Go here for details.
  • 9-13 Nov 2025 (Portland, OR, USA): ASM Conference on Biofilms. Go here for details and to register.
  • 18-24 Nov 2025 (global, multiple locations): World Antibiotic Awareness Week (WAAW) is convened annually on 18-24 Nov by WHO with national events (e.g., CDC’s US Antibiotic Awareness Week (USAAW); ECDC’s 18 Nov European Antibiotic Awareness Day) occurring around the globe. Details will follow as events become visible.
  • 19-22 Oct 2025 (Georgia, USA): IDWeek 2025. See list of Top Recurring meetings, above.
  • 29-31 Oct 2025 (Bengalaru, India): ASM Global Research Symposium on the One Health Approach to Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), hosted in partnership with the Centre for Infectious Disease Research (CIDR) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). Go here for details and to register.
  • [UPDATED: Program is online and abstract submissions are open] 28-30 Jan 2026 (Las Vegas, NV, USA): IDSA and ASM have announced a new US-based meeting series entitled IAMRI (Interdisciplinary Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance and Innovation) and described as a “forum for collaboration and exploration around the latest advances in antimicrobial drug discovery and development.” You can’t register until August 2025 but you go here for the program and to submit an abstract (deadline for abstracts is 1 Oct 2025).
  • 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.

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

]]> WHO wants your input on its draft TPPs for needed antibacterial agents https://amr.solutions/2019/09/01/who-wants-your-input-on-its-draft-tpps-for-needed-antibacterial-agents/ https://amr.solutions/2019/09/01/who-wants-your-input-on-its-draft-tpps-for-needed-antibacterial-agents/#respond Sun, 01 Sep 2019 16:04:52 +0000 https://13.43.35.2/?p=217

Dear All,

Addendum: This project ultimately led to publishing in May 2020 of a set of TPPs for enteric fever, gonorrhea, neonatal sepsis, and urinary tract infections as guides for developers. You can find those TPPs at https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240003897.  

WHO has developed a set of draft TPPs (target product profiles) for needed new antibiotics. As part of the process, they are now opening a public consultation. Here is the essential text from their announcement:

  • “The World Health organization (WHO) is developing target products profiles (TPPs) for needed antibacterial agents, providing the public health perspective to funders and developers on the performance and operational characteristics desired of new therapeutic products.
  • “The draft TPPs for are now out for public consultation, during which we seek feedback from a broad range of stakeholders. Direct link to the consultation: https://www.who.int/medicines/access/antimicrobial_resistance/public-consultation-tpps-antibacterial-agents/en/
  • “Deadline for feedback is 29 September 2019. A comment form is available on the website. Please use one form per draft TPP and submit comments to Ingrid Smith (ismith@who.int). The finalized TPPs will be published towards the end of the year.”

As noted, the TPPs are meant to guide funders and developers as they evaluate program options. The TPPs cover these 5 areas:

  • Empiric therapy of neonatal sepsis in high resistance settings
  • Targeted therapy for MDR Gram-negative neonatal sepsis
  • Uncomplicated gonorrhea
  • Uncomplicated typhoid fever
  • Oral therapy of uncomplicated UTI 

Please take a look! All best wishes, –jr

John H. Rex, MD | Chief Medical Officer, F2G Ltd. | Expert-in-Residence, Wellcome Trust. Follow me on Twitter: @JohnRex_NewAbx. See past newsletters and subscribe for the future: https://13.43.35.2/blog/

Upcoming meetings of interest to the AMR community:

  • [Mark your calendar now!] 3-6 Sep 2019 (Boston). Annual ASM-ESCMID Conference on Antibiotic Development. The Bootcamp series will continue on 3 Sep with main meeting on 4-6 Sep. Mark your calendar now and check back here for details.
  • [NEW] 6 Sept 2019 (Delhi, India):  Longitude Prize and BIRAC roundtable event on AMR Diagnostics. Roundtable discussion of how diagnostic tests will impact and reduce antibiotic resistance. Full details here.
  • 6 Sep 2019 (Cambridge): CeBIL Annual Symposium 2019: Legal Innovation to Support the Development of Anti-Microbial Drugs. For more details and to register, go here.
  • 6-8 Sep 2019 (Bilbao, Spain): 5th ESCMID conference on Vaccines. Check back here for details.
  • 10 Sep 2019 (webinar, 17:00-18:30 CEST): REVIVE webinar entitled “Models for antimicrobial R&D: Advanced and complex in vivo models for infectious disease research.” Go here to register.
  • 3 Oct 2019 (webinar, 17:00-18:30 CEST): REVIVE webinar entitled “Natural product antibiotics: from traditional screening to novel discovery approaches.” Go here to register.
  • 2-6 Oct 2019 (Washington, DC): IDSA’s annual IDWeek meeting.
  • 19-27 Oct 2019 (Annecy, France): International Course on Antibiotics and Resistance (ICARe) – A soup-to-nuts intensive residential training program on all things AMR, especially R&D for new antibiotics. See this link for details.
  • 19 Nov 2019 (London): BSAC seminar entitled “Into clinical practice: Meeting the challenges of Gram-negative infection management”. A one-day conference on treatments for Gram-negative infections. Go here for details.
  • 28-29 Nov 2019 (Birmingham, UK): BSAC workshop entitled “ARM (Antibiotic Resistance & Mechanisms)”. This meeting is a research forum for UK-based researchers at all levels, including PhD students and technicians. Go here for details.
  • 16-18 Dec 2019 (Bangkok, Thailand): 3rd International Symposium on Alternatives to Antibiotics in Animal Production. Go here for details: https://www.ars.usda.gov/alternativestoantibiotics/
  • 21 Jan 2020 (London): BSAC’s 2nd Antimicrobial Chemotherapy Conference – An ABC for everyone involved in developing new antimicrobials. Go here for details.
  • [NEW] 20 Feb 2020 (London, UK): Westminster Health Forum conference entitled “Antimicrobial resistance – coordinating a global response and progress on the UK strategy.” Go here for details.
  • 1-6 Mar 2020 (Il Ciocco, Tuscany, Italy): GRC on Antibacterial Discovery and Development: “Now is the time to re-boot antibiotic R&D before it’s too little, too late.” Go here for details.
  • 12-13 Mar 2020 (Berlin?): BEAM-, Novo REPAIR-, CARB-X-, DZIF-, ND4BB-, ENABLE-supported (among a long list!) Conference on Novel Antimicrobials and AMR Diagnostics. Final location is TBD, details will appear here, and you should mark your calendar now. 
  • 16-17 Mar 2020 (London): BSAC Spring Conference entitled: “Bridging the gap between science, policy and effective antimicrobial use.” Go here for details. 
  • 18-21 Apr 2020 (Paris): Annual ECCMID meeting (#30)
  • 25-30 May 2020 (Rotterdam), Annual ESPID meeting (European Society for Pediatric ID, #38)
  • 10-13 Apr 2021 (Vienna): Annual ECCMID meeting (#31)

]]> https://amr.solutions/2019/09/01/who-wants-your-input-on-its-draft-tpps-for-needed-antibacterial-agents/feed/ 0 WHO Collaborating Centres for AMR: A rapidly growing group! https://amr.solutions/2019/12/09/who-collaborating-centres-for-amr-a-rapidly-growing-group/ https://amr.solutions/2019/12/09/who-collaborating-centres-for-amr-a-rapidly-growing-group/#respond Mon, 09 Dec 2019 05:58:29 +0000 https://13.43.35.2/?p=14

Dear All,

I recently learned about the designation of Stanford as a WHO Collaborating Centre (WHOCC) for AMR and Stewardship. This caused me to dig a bit more into the way that WHO has created a global network of Collaborating Centres.

WHOCC designation represents a sustained and productive collaboration with WHO (link). As an example, Stanford’s WHOCC designation is based substantially on their work to create two online courses on stewardship (see here and here). 

With > 800 WHOCCs in 80 countries covering a wide range of health-related topics, this is a substantial body of work! Relevant to this newsletter and pretty obviously as part of WHO’s focus in recent years on AMR, there are now 16 WHOCCs with the word “antimicrobial” or “AMR” in their titles (link).

Of these, 3 were created prior to 2000 with the other 13 created since 2014! Here’s the list (note that I have abbreviated full titles to use AMR instead of Antimicrobial Resistance):

WHOCC for / on; Since; Where

  • Reference & Research on AMR and Healthcare-Associated Infections; Jan-62; Public Health England (London, UK, link)
  • International Monitoring of Resistance to Antimicrobial Agents; May-97; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, Atlanta, USA, link)
  • Sexually Transmitted Infections and AMR; May-98; The Prince of Wales Hospital (Randwick, Australia, link)
  • AMR Surveillance and Training; Jun-14; Ministry of Public Health, National Institute of Health (Nonthaburi, Thailand, link)
  • AMR Epidemiology and Surveillance; Oct-14; National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM, Bilthoven, Netherlands, link)
  • Capacity Building on AMR Surveillance and Research; Apr-16; Smolensk State Medical University (Smolensk, Russian Federation, link)
  • AMR containment; Apr-16; Public Health Agency of Sweden (Solna, Sweden, link)
  • AMR Prevention and Containment; Nov-16; Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University (Bangkok, Thailand, link)
  • WHO AMR Surveillance and Quality Assessment Collaborating Centres Network; Dec-16; WHO GLASS Secretariat (link)
  • Antimicrobial Resistance; Jun-17; AMR Laboratory, Centre for Opportunistic, Tropical and Hospital Infections (Johannesburg, South Africa, link)
  • Surveillance of AMR; Jun-17; Brigham & Women’s Hospital (Boston, USA, link)
  • AMR in Foodborne and Environmental Bacteria; Dec-18; Servicio Nacional de Sanidad. Inocuidad y Calidad Agroalimentaria (SENASICA, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico, link)
  • AMR and Stewardship; Apr-19; Stanford University School of Medicine (Stanford, USA, link)
  • AMR and Foodborne Pathogens and Genomics; Apr-19; Technical University of Denmark (Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark, link)
  • Global One Health and AMR Initiatives; Nov-19; North Carolina State University (Raleigh, USA, link)
  • Global Governance of AMR; Nov-19; York University (Toronto, Canada, link)

But wait … there’s more! These are just the WHOCCs with AMR in their title! A search for “Infectious Disease” turns up another 11 WHOCCs (link), a search for “infection” finds 13 more, and the home page for WHO’s GLASS project (Global Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System, link) lists 20 WHOCCs. There’s a bit of overlap in each of these with the AMR-titled group, but not a lot. 

This is impressive! It takes sustained effort to build this kind of momentum … WHO made AMR the focus of its annual World Health Day event in 2011 (link) and you can tell that the team has definitely been busy both before and since. 

Depending on your work and geography, you might want to consider connecting with a relevant WHOCC. For each AMR-titled WHOCC, I’ve shown the  most current and relevant link I could find. Further contact details are also found in the WHOCC database (link). To find other WHOCCs, search the entire database here … it’s really easy to filter by country. 

All best wishes, –jr

John H. Rex, MD | Chief Medical Officer, F2G Ltd. | Expert-in-Residence, Wellcome Trust. Follow me on Twitter: @JohnRex_NewAbx. See past newsletters and subscribe for the future: https://amr.solutions/blog/

Upcoming meetings of interest to the AMR community:

  • 16-18 Dec 2019 (Bangkok, Thailand): 3rd International Symposium on Alternatives to Antibiotics in Animal Production. Go here for details: https://www.ars.usda.gov/alternativestoantibiotics/
  • 16 Jan 2020 (Washington, DC): Duke-Margolis meeting entitled (approximately) “improving Payment Policies for Antibiotics.” This meeting will run 10:30am – 4:30pm ET. Go here to register.
  • 20 Feb 2020 (London, UK): Westminster Health Forum conference entitled “Antimicrobial resistance – coordinating a global response and progress on the UK strategy.” Go here for details.
  • 26-27 Feb 2020 (Washington, DC): US PACCARB public meeting. Go here for details.
  • 1-6 Mar 2020 (Il Ciocco, Tuscany, Italy): Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Antibacterial Discovery and Development: “Now is the time to re-boot antibiotic R&D before it’s too little, too late.” Go here for details.
  • 12-13 Mar 2020 (Basel): BEAM-, Novo REPAIR-, CARB-X-, DZIF-, ND4BB-, ENABLE-supported (among a long list!) Conference on Novel Antimicrobials and AMR Diagnostics. Details are here, poster deadline is 12 Dec 2019.  
  • 16-17 Mar 2020 (London): BSAC Spring Conference entitled: “Bridging the gap between science, policy and effective antimicrobial use.” Go here for details. 
  • 18-21 Apr 2020 (Paris): Annual ECCMID meeting (#30)
  • 25-30 May 2020 (Rotterdam), Annual ESPID meeting (European Society for Pediatric ID, #38)
  • 27-28 Jun 2020 (Bryant University, Rhode Island): Drug Resistance Gordon Research Seminar entitled “Mechanisms and Approaches to Overcoming Drug Resistance in Cancer, Infectious Disease and Agriculture” for graduate students and postdoctoral scientists. Go here for details … this immediately precedes the GRC listed just next
  • 28 Jun-3 Jul 2020 (Bryant University, Rhode Island): Gordon Research Conference (GRC) entitled “Strategies to Disrupt Drug Resistance in Infectious Disease, Cancer and Agriculture.” Go here for details.
  • 1-4 Sep 2020 (Dublin): Annual ASM-ESCMID Conference on Antibiotic Development #5! Mark your calendar now and go here for details.
  • 9-10 Sep 2020 (Washington, DC): US PACCARB public meeting. Go here for details.
  • 22-25 Sep 2020 (Albuquerque, New Mexico): Biannual meeting of the MSGERC (Mycoses Study Group Education and Research Consortium). Save-the-date announcement is here, details to follow.
  • 17-25 Oct 2020 (Annecy, France): Interdisciplinary Course on Antibiotics and Resistance (ICARe). This is a soup-to-nuts residential course on antibiotics, antibiotic resistance, and antibiotic R&D. The course is very intense, very detailed, and gets rave reviews. The date is set for 2020 and the program will ultimately appear here. Registration is limited to 40 students and opens 15 Mar 2020.
  • 10-13 Apr 2021 (Vienna): Annual ECCMID meeting (#31)
]]> https://amr.solutions/2019/12/09/who-collaborating-centres-for-amr-a-rapidly-growing-group/feed/ 0 UNGA 2024 action: Establishing an Independent Panel on Evidence for Action (IPEA) https://amr.solutions/2025/07/06/unga-2024-action-establishing-an-independent-panel-on-evidence-for-action-ipea/ Sun, 06 Jul 2025 20:55:02 +0000 https://amr.solutions/?p=18397

Dear All,

Referring back to the actions planned following the 2024 UNGA HLM on AMR (UN General Assembly High-Level Meeting on AMR; 1 Oct 2024 newsletter and our dedicated UNGA 2024 webpage), you will hopefully recall the commitment to create an Independent Panel on Evidence for Action against AMR (IPEA).

The broad idea is the data from an independent panel would have great credence and encourage governmental action. The importance of creating of an IPEA was specifically noted in paper #4 from the 10-20-30 Lancet series (Mendelson et al. Lancet 2024 and the 23 May 2024 newsletter) and has been supported by funding promises of €2.5 million from the European Commission along with commitments of GBP 10 million each from the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia.

And the hope is that this will move quickly. A roadmap released 14 Mar 2025 calls for work to ensure that the IPEA “is established and commences its work as soon as practicable in 2025.”

So, how do you create an IPEA? How is it organized? How is it governed? To answer that question, we today have papers from the Quadripartite Joint Secretariat on AMR (QJS) on possible ways to create an IPEA … and we are all invited to comment on the best approach. Here are the links you need:

  • Overall webpage on the QJS website
    • Reminder: The QJS is FAO + UNEP + WHO + WOAH (Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, UN Environment Programme, the World Health Organization, and the World Organisation for Animal Health)
  • Paper #1: Why an independent science panel (IPEA)?
    • This 8-page document is the core document
    • In short form, it lays out a series of foundational ideas and questions
    • Key quote (emphasis is mine): ”The objective of the Independent Panel for Evidence for Action against Antimicrobial Resistance is to facilitate the generation, synthesis and use of multisectoral, scientific evidence to support Member States in their efforts to tackle antimicrobial resistance, making use of existing resources and avoiding duplication of ongoing efforts.”
  • Paper #2: What structure might the IPEA take?
    • Written in 2025 by the Quadripartite organizations, this 46-page document is built around a deep dive into three well-established intergovernmental science-policy panels:
      • IPCC (The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, launched in 1998 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and UNEP)
      • IPBES (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, launched 2010 by UNEP)
      • IRP (International Resource Panel, launched in 2007 by UNEP)
    • Through the lens of these 3 existing panels, it lays out a series of options for the IPEA panel by addressing questions such as:
      • What should IPEA’s scope and objectives be? 
      • What is the structure of other science-policy panels?
      • What is its membership? What is its governance?
      • How does it work with other stakeholders?
      • How should it measure the quality and impact of its work?
      • What does it cost? How is it funded?
    • With this, it provide a sense of the key elements that need consultation and development when establishing a panel that is scientifically credible, policy-relevant, and politically legitimate.
  • Paper #3: What operating models are used by other OneHealth-related panels?
  • Paper #4: A public consultation questionnaire
    • There are 19 questions covering Scope, Output, and Institutional Arrangements.
    • Your answers to the survey are requested at: 
    • The survey is open from 4 July to 25 July
  • Excellent additional perspectives from the team at CGD (Center for Global Development) in collaboration with other colleagues:
    • A 22 Jan 2025 blog by Javier Guzman, Kevin Outterson, and Iruka N. Okeke entitled “Charting the Path to Tackle AMR: How to Create an Inclusive and Impactful Independent Panel.“
    • A 21 May 2025 blog by Anthony McDonnell entitled “From Evidence to Action: Building an Effective Independent Panel on Antimicrobial Resistance.”
    • A perspective paper: by Misbah Khan, Ayodele A. Akinyele, Emmanuel Olamijuwon, and Anthony McDonnell entitled “Understanding Different Stakeholders’ Priorities for an Independent Panel on Evidence for Action on AMR.”


After reviewing the documents, I found that starting with paper #4 (the questionnaire) worked well — having the list of questions in mind was helpful as I read the other documents. Then read #1 carefully — it is the heart of the question. As you do so, note that key points are marked with a faint background grey highlight. This was subtle in my printed copy — I initially noticed it only onscreen. Papers #3 and #4 will then provide good food for thought. Finally, the materials shared by Team CGD provide further ways to see the challenge(s) in creating a credible panel.

Well done to the team at the QJS! It’s exciting to see this important process being started in such a thoughtful way. Please be sure to submit your answers by 25 July!

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.

Current funding opportunities

  • The AMR Industry Alliance is again offering a Stewardship Prize of 10,000 CHF to recognize innovative approaches to combating AMR in low-to-moderate-income countries. This year’s prize focuses on utilizing diagnostics in stewardship efforts. Applications are due by 1 Sep 2025. Go here for details and to apply.
  • NNF (Novo Nordisk Foundation) have announced their “Challenge Programme 2026 – Unravelling the Pathways of Human Invasive Fungal Diseases. The call seeks applications from EU-centered consortia (global partners are possible) for research in 4 areas: (i) fungal virulence factors, (ii) host-pathogen interactions, (iii) mechanisms of anti-fungal resistance, and (iv) fungal disease markers. Applications are due by 8 Oct 2025. Go here for details. 
  • 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. 
  • CARB-X will have two calls during 2025 that span two areas: (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. The first cycle is now closed (it ran16-30 April 2025); the 2nd round will be open 1-12 Dec 2025.
  • 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).

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!

  • 1-3 Oct 2025 GAMRIC, the Global AMR Innovators Conference (London, UK). Formerly the ESCMID-ASM Joint Conference on Drug Development for AMR, this meeting series is now in its 10th year and is being continued under the joint sponsorship of CARB-X, ESCMID, BEAM Alliance, GARDP, LifeArc, Boston University, and AMR.Solutions. The ongoing series will continue the successful format of prior meetings with a single-track meeting and substantial networking time (go here to see details of the outstanding 2024 meeting).
    • Registration is now open and the preliminary agenda can be found at that same link (https://www.gamric.org/). The meeting will be limited to approximately 300 attendees, so please be sure to register promptly to avoid disappointment! 
    • The abstract submission window (same link as registration) runs until 13 June.
    • Application for travel grants (same link as registration) are accepted through 2 June.
  • 19-22 Oct 2025 (Georgia, USA): IDWeek 2025, the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Go here to register. For those who would like a substantial opportunity to present a product to a large audience (see also adjacent note about ESCMID), note the call for applications to present at an IDWeek Pipeline Session; go here to submit an application for your compound or diagnostic.
  • 3-4 Mar 2026 (Basel, Switzerland): The 10th AMR Conference. Sponsored by the BEAM Alliance, the 9th AMR Conference has just concluded and it’s again been an excellent meeting! Please mark your calendar for next year. You can’t register yet, but details will appear here! 
  • 17-21 April 2026 (Munich, Germany): ESCMID Global 2026, the annual meeting of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. You can’t register yet, but you can go here for details on the outstanding 2025 meeting. 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; go here to see details from 2025.

  Upcoming meetings of interest to the AMR community:

  • [NEW] 22 July 202 (virtual, 9.30-11.00 CEST) Webinar entitled “Repurposing drugs to address the crisis of antimicrobial resistance”, organized by GARDP REVIVE. Go here to register. Recordings of prior REVIVE webinars are available for replay.
  • [NEW] 9 Sep 202 (virtual, 9.30-11.00 CEST) Webinar entitled “Overcoming challenges of tuberculosis drug discovery and development”, organized by GARDP REVIVE. Go here to register. Recordings of prior REVIVE webinars are available for replay.
  • 10-11 Sep 2025 (Ghent, BE): Organized by a group at Ghent University in collaboration with the ESCMID Study Group for Non-Traditional Antibacterial Therapy (ESGNTA), the Phage Protein Meeting is an interdisciplinary conference dedicated to advancing the field of phage proteins for infection control that seeks to bring together academic researchers and professionals working with phage proteins such as phage lysins, tail fibers, tailspikes, depolymerases, and tailocins. Note that the focus here is on phage proteins rather than phage themselves. Go here for details and to register.
  • 12 Sep 2025 (Ghent, BE): The 10-11 Sep 2025 meeting just above is followed in Ghent on 12 Sep by the 4th annual meeting of BSVoM (Belgian Society for Viruses of Microbes). This meeting is broader than therapeutics, providing an “interdisciplinary perspective on virus of microbes, ranging from basic research to industrial developments and clinical use.” Go here for details.
  • 10-13 Sep 2025 (Lisbon, Portugal): 6th ESCMID Conference on Vaccines. Go here for details.
  • 15-19 Sep 2025 (virtual): US CDC-sponsored the 9th Annual Fungal Disease Awareness Week (FDAW). Daily themed events include “Think Fungus” on 15 Sep, “Fungi are everywhere” on 16 Sep, and “Fungal diseases and drug resistance (19 Sep). Signup for the Mycotic Diseases Branch newsletter to stay updated.
  • 1-3 Oct 2025 GAMRIC, 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..
  • 11-19 Oct 2025 (Annecy, France, residential in-person program): ICARe (Interdisciplinary Course on Antibiotics and Resistance) … and 2025 will be the 9th year for this program. Patrice Courvalin orchestrates content with the support of an all-star scientific committee and faculty. The resulting soup-to-nuts training covers all aspects of antimicrobials, is very intense, and routinely gets rave reviews! Seating is limited, so mark your calendars now if you are interested. Applications are being accepted from 20 Mar to 21 Jun 2025 — go here for more details.
  • 17-20 Sep 2025 (Porto, PT): 14th International Meeting on Microbial Epidemiological Markers (IMMEM XIV). Go here for details.
  • 9-13 Nov 2025 (Portland, OR, USA): ASM Conference on Biofilms. Go here for details and to register.
  • 18-24 Nov 2025 (global, multiple locations): World Antibiotic Awareness Week (WAAW) is convened annually on 18-24 Nov by WHO with national events (e.g., CDC’s US Antibiotic Awareness Week (USAAW); ECDC’s 18 Nov European Antibiotic Awareness Day) occurring around the globe. Details will follow as events become visible.
  • 19-22 Oct 2025 (Georgia, USA): IDWeek 2025. See list of Top Recurring meetings, above.
  • 29-31 Oct 2025 (Bengalaru, India): ASM Global Research Symposium on the One Health Approach to Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), hosted in partnership with the Centre for Infectious Disease Research (CIDR) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). Go here for details and to register.
  • 28-30 Jan 2026 (Las Vegas, NV, USA): IDSA and ASM have announced a new US-based meeting series entitled IAMRI (Interdisciplinary Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance and Innovation) and described as a “forum for collaboration and exploration around the latest advances in antimicrobial drug discovery and development.” You can’t register yet (further details anticipated June 2025) but you can go here to see general details about the new meeting.
  • 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.
  • [NEW] 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.

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

]]>