ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE SOLUTIONS
WITH DR. JOHN H. REX
Latest Newsletters
Dear All (unapologetically wonkish ... very important material!), Let's set the scene today by considering two quotes: Prosaic: "The successful treatment of patients with cancer has long depended on the capacity to manage infectious complications." (Shropshire 2025, cited below) Blunt translation: "Your cancer will be controlled, but then you may die of infection." (Abdul Ghafur, quoted from a 2019 podcast entitled "Superbugs Force a Deadly Choice for Cancer Patients") In short, it is entirely possibly at present to be able to cure a cancer but be unable to cure the infection incurred along the way! Ugh! Although the relevance of AMR to cancer is certainly not a surprise, the available data on the burden of AMR in cancer are generally small-scale reviews in HIC (High-Income Country) settings. As a step towards increased understanding that should both provoke further research as well as add patient voices to the call to action, we have today 3 recent papers and an excellent editorial commentary. Here are the links you need: AMR in hospitalized US patients with cancer: Gupta V et al. Burden of Antimicrobial Resistance in Adult Hospitalized Patients With Cancer: A Multicenter Analysis. Cancer Med. 2024;13(24):e70495 (https://doi.org/10.1002/cam4.70495). AMR in US outpatients with cancer:...
Dear All (wonkish alert ......
Dear All,No one is safe...
Latest Government Action
Dear All,If you represent a US-based organization with an interest in AMR, there is an opportunity to sign a letter advocating for AMR-related funding in the FY2026 US Government (USG) budget.Founded in 2014, IDSA's S-FAR (Stakeholder Forum on Antimicrobial Resistance) has been steadily coordinating messages to the USG from professional groups with an interest in AMR. Today, there is an opportunity to be a part of the process for FY2026 by signing this draft letter. As a signatory, you would be joining the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), American Society of Microbiology (ASM), Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), AdvaMed Dx, BIO, Food and Animal Concerns Trust (FACT), and Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) in supporting a request for FY 2026 funding for domestic and global antimicrobial resistance (AMR) programs. The letter is similar in structure to a letter sent last year in providing recommendations for funding of AMR-related work across all parts of USG (CDC, ASPR (including BARDA and CARB-X), NIAID, FDA, etc.)You can sign this year's letter here: https://forms.gle/2ppBt83LUEvXWU557. Please note that signatories should be US-based organizations. The deadline for signatures is 9 May 2025.Many thanks to our colleagues at IDSA for organizing this effort! All best...
Dear All, Sadly, I must...
Dear All (and with thanks...
Dear All, The Global Leaders Group on Antimicrobial...
Dear All,BARDA has released a...
R&D Insight
Dear All,First up today is...
Dear All (wonkish note alert...
Dear All: The United Kingdom...
Dear All:FDA’s approval of delafloxacin...
Dear All, Committing serial email...
Can you help?
Dear All,I have just learned that Lifeline, the musical formerly known as The Mould that Changed the World, is seeking scientists, medics, and healthcare professionals to be part of the cast for a portion of a planned 5-week off-Broadway run of the show around the time of the High-Level Meeting (HLM) on AMR at UNGA 2024 in New York City...
Dear All, Heads up! Having...
Note: Be sure to take...
Update on 11 October 2023: The...
Dear All,Along with more than...
Dear All (and with thanks to...
Dear All, Two items for...
Dear All, Three things today......
Dear All, Greetings from ECCMID...
Dear All,A key theme of...
Dear All,Following hard on the...
Dear All, A short one...
Dear All, We are swimming...
Antimicrobial resistance poses a catastrophic threat. If we don’t act now, any one of us could go into hospital in 20 years for minor surgery and die because of an ordinary infection that can’t be treated by antibiotics. And routine operations like hip replacements or organ transplants could be deadly because of the risk of infection.
AMR Fireside Chats
1/18 videos
1
Episode 17 w/ Ella Balasa and Rob Purdie of WHO Task Force of AMR Survivors - AMR Fireside Chat
38:24
2
Episode 16 w/ Ramanan Laxminarayan, PhD - AMR Fireside Chat
32:59
3
Episode 15 w/ Mark Albrecht, PhD - AMR Fireside Chat
43:55
4
Episode 14 w/ Lynn Silver - AMR Fireside Chat
56:23
5
Episode 13 w/ Kevin Outterson - AMR Fireside Chat
30:01
6
Episode 12 w/ Tina Joshi, PhD - AMR Fireside Chat
34:22
7
Episode 11 w/ Martin Heidecker - AMR Fireside Chat
32:31
8
Episode 10 w/ Anna Govett - AMR Fireside Chat
14:54
9
Episode 9 w/ Fatema Rafiqi, PhD - AMR Fireside Chat
34:10
10
Episode 8 w/ Ghada Zoubiane, PhD - AMR Fireside Chat
35:04
11
Episode 7 w/ Trevor Lithgow, PhD - AMR Fireside Chat
35:41
12
AMR Snapshots: Episode 2 - John Rex (Editor-In-Chief, AMR.Solutions)
26:25
13
Episode 6 w/ Maryn McKenna - AMR Fireside Chat
45:50
14
Episode 5 w/ Christine Årdal - AMR Fireside Chat
43:44
15
Episode 4 w/ Peter Beyer - AMR Fireside Chat
39:21
16
Episode 3 w/ Kevin Outterson - AMR Fireside Chat
11:45
17
Episode 2 w/ Henry Skinner, PhD - AMR Fireside Chat
15:44
18
Episode 1 w/ Kevin Outterson - AMR Fireside Chat
52:56
Categories of resistance: MDR, XDR, PDR, UDR, and (new!) DTR
Note: See also these related newsletters: 20 Feb 2020 (link) on DTR as part of the language of resistance and 7 June 2020 (link) on
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New mechanisms for antibiotic reimbursement in the United States: CMS’s IPPS FY2020 Final Rule
Dear All (and with thanks to Kevin Outterson for substantial help with this newsletter), On August 2, 2019, the US government agency that administrates Medicare &
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Plazomicin EU marketing application is withdrawn: Near zero market value of newly approved antibacterials
Dear All (with thanks to Kevin Outterson for co-authoring this newsletter), Last week’s announcement of the AMR Action Fund was both exciting and sobering: $1b
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Impact of PASTEUR: 9.9m lives saved, ROI of 125:1
Dear All (and with thanks to Kevin Outterson for being lead author on this newsletter), (wonkish alert on this one … refresh your coffee and
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Push! Pull! Push! Pull! / Highlights from Davos 2018
Dear All: Three important documents were released at / during / around the World Economic Forum meeting that occurred this week in Davos. First and foremost,
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Global survey of novel antibiotic reimbursement models / PASTEUR Act introduced to US House
Dear All (wonkish alert, but the details are fascinating … and with thanks to Kevin Outterson for co-authoring!), Two related items of note for today.
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Scary, Scarier, Scariest (Part 2): What can YOU do about it?
Long note alert— apologies! Get a cup of coffee and settle in… Dear All: My 22 Apr 2019 note entitled Scary, Scarier, Scariest: Achaogen / FT
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Modeling the value of an effective antibiotic — Megiddo et al.
Dear All: I have previously written about the challenge of applying health technology assessment (HTA) to estimate the monetary value of an effective antibiotic: To my knowledge,
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FDA and EMA regulatory updates / Fireside chat during the 4th AMR Conference
Dear All (lots and lots of wonkish detail here, be sure your blood caffeine level is adequate!), During the 24-28 Aug 2020 BEAM Alliance-sponsored AMR Conference
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FDA Workshop: Animal models in support of narrow-spectrum agents for A. baumannii and P. aeruginosa
Dear All: FDA today hosted their eagerly awaited workshop on animal models in support of narrow-spectrum agents for A. baumannii (Abau) and P. aeruginosa (Pae). It was a really
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Novel Biology, Novel Utility, & the Illusion of Skill: What to develop? What to reward?
Dear All (wonk-ish note alert and also with particular thanks as always to Kevin Outterson for helping to refine this newsletter): Sparked at least in
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IDSA White Paper on developing narrow-spectrum antimicrobials + editorial by G. Drusano
Dear All (long note alert … there’s a lot of material below my signature): Just published today is an IDSA White Paper entitled “Developing Antimicrobial
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The thoughtless person playing with penicillin treatment is morally responsible for the death of the man who succumbs to infection with the penicillin-resistant organism.
The bipartisan PASTEUR Act is the strongest bill ever written to strengthen antibiotic development and use. It will fix our market failures, expand the pipeline for next generation antibiotics, and save lives. We can’t sit on our hands as this public health crisis arrives – we have to act now.
Summaries
Notes: Newsflash ... BARDA have...
Aside: If you've enjoyed the...
See also This related newsletter:...
Dear All (and with thanks...
Dear All (Wonkish alert! Coffee-up!),Today...