A Renewed Call: Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance Through Collaboration and Innovation

At Lygature, we believe that meaningful progress against AMR hinges not just on scientific breakthroughs — but on the collaborations that translate innovation into impact.

WHY AMR STILL DEMANDS OUR ATTENTION

Antibiotics and other antimicrobial therapies have transformed modern medicine. They allowed us to treat once-deadly infections, perform surgeries, and manage chronic disease. But over the past decades we have eroded some of that progress: the overuse and misuse of antimicrobials, combined with the failure to replenish the pipeline of new treatments, have created a looming crisis, often referred to as the silent pandemic.

Multi-drug-resistant infections are increasingly common, and for many high-priority pathogens, particularly Gram-negative bacteria, the treatment options are shrinking. The WHO lists AMR among the top global public-health threats.

This year’s AMR Awareness Week is a timely reminder that awareness must turn into action.

LYGATURE’S ROLE AND APPROACH

Our mission at Lygature is to catalyze partnerships across academia, industry, and society, including patients themselves, to bring novel medical solutions to life. Within that framework, AMR is a natural focus: it is both a scientific/medical challenge and a systemic one — requiring collaborative models, aligned incentives, shared risk, and long-term infrastructure.

Our core areas of expertise — stakeholder management, drug discovery & development, patient engagement, data infrastructure, health law & ethics, regulatory innovation, and global health — all converge in the AMR space. We function as independent convener, program manager, and steward of multi-stakeholder consortia; we believe this neutral role is critical in building trust, aligning diverse actors, and preventing duplication.

PROJECTS IN FOCUS

GNA NOW (Gram-Negative Antibacterials NOW)

Launched in 2019 under the umbrella of the IMI / IHI AMR Accelerator, this European collaboration brings together multiple partners from academia and industry and is coordinated by Lygature. 

Its mission: to develop new antibacterials with novel modes of action for severe enteric disease caused by pathogens such as Shigella, Campylobacter, E. coli, and Salmonella. 

Our role:

• Operational coordination: bringing structure, process, and governance to a complex multi-organization collaboration.
• Scientific leadership: co-responsible for strategic decisions around pipeline management, resources, scientific output, and progress toward the clinic.
• Stakeholder engagement: facilitating knowledge exchange, public & patient involvement, connection with down-stream developers, and funder–industry interface.

UNITE4TB

Although TB is usually seen through a “tuberculosis” lens, the rise of multi-drug-resistant TB means it is also an AMR challenge. In fact, tackling TB drug resistance is intimately linked with the broader landscape of antimicrobial resistance.

Lygature serves as the independent facilitator of the UNITE4TB Consortium, which aims to accelerate the development of new TB drugs and regimens (including for drug-resistant forms). 

By participating in UNITE4TB, we demonstrate how global health and AMR are inseparable: the health systems of low- and middle-income countries, the clinical trial networks, and the need for sustainable therapeutic solutions all reflect that connection.

Together, these projects demonstrate how Lygature’s independent coordination model helps accelerate AMR innovation — from early drug discovery to real-world application.

PARTNERSHIPS, INFRASTRUCTURE & KNOWLEDGE SHARING

Beyond our role in coordinating these projects, we also invest in upstream enablers: building data infrastructure, encouraging sustainable funding models, stimulating knowledge exchange, and convening forums to share best practices in public-private partnerships. For example, in 2024 we contributed to the publication of a joint “call to action” on sustainable funding for AMR R&D in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery. 

We also regularly participate in and facilitate meetings and workshops to exchange ideas and strengthen the AMR community, such as this example from earlier this year.  

These efforts reflect a broader truth: In AMR, science alone is not enough. We need platforms, partnerships, and policies that allow science to be translated into real-world solutions.

LESSONS & REFLECTIONS

• Collaboration is complex. Bringing together academia, SMEs, large pharma, regulators, clinicians, and patients — each with different perspectives, cultures, and incentives — is challenging. Our colleague Kristina Orrling shared in a webinar about optimizing outcomes in collaborative AMR research that acknowledging and respecting differences is part of the solution.
• Sustainability is fragile. AMR suffers from a structural gap: low return on investment disincentivizes industry investment and as such, talent and infrastructure risk being lost. Our call to action warned that without long-term investment, the gains of current programs could be lost.
• Translation gaps persist. Discovery pipelines may produce promising candidates, but moving from program to clinical use remains slow and challenging. For example, some assets in the GNA NOW consortium were assessed as “no-go” and replaced.
• Independent management makes a difference. Lygature’s role as coordinator/facilitator helps provide the ‘glue’ between partners, safeguard objectives, manage contracts and governance, and keep the focus on patient impact rather than organizational agendas.
• AMR is global and equity sensitive. Much of the burden, but also many of the opportunities for positive change, lies in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Investment and innovation must reflect that reality. 

LOOKING AHEAD: WHAT MUST CHANGE & OUR NEXT STEPS

AMR is not a problem that will wait, and neither can we. The path ahead includes:

• Revitalizing the antibiotic pipeline: especially for Gram-negative pathogens, for under-explored indications, and for regions where the burden is highest.
• Sustaining infrastructure and talent: ensuring the capabilities, knowledge and networks built now do not dissipate when individual projects end.
• Promoting equitable access: new therapies must not only be developed, but deployed in low-resource, high-burden settings.
• Reducing hurdles to advancing AMR innovations: achieving broad multistakeholder alignment on medical needs and targets, improving understanding of preclinical and clinical data correlations, and ensuring global acceptance of validated models, biomarkers, and study endpoints for both well-known and less-studied infections and disease manifestations.
• Strengthening policy, regulation, and incentives: Innovative funding mechanisms, pull-incentives for industry, collaborative models, and community and patient involvement must be scaled.
• Extending beyond drugs: Diagnostics, stewardship, surveillance, behavior change and infection prevention remain essential complements to therapeutic innovation.

Lygature remains committed to deepening our involvement in AMR-related consortia and partnerships. In fact, in early 2026, we will embark on a new collaborative initiative to advance the discovery and delivery of next-generation antibacterial therapies. Building on lessons from our existing partnerships, this upcoming effort will unite novel therapeutic approaches with innovative drug-delivery technologies to tackle resistant infections more effectively. Our main contribution in this project, as in others: being the trusted coordinator that bridges sectors and geographies and amplifies the voices of patients and vulnerable populations.

CALL TO ACTION

During World AMR Awareness Week, we invite you to reflect and act. Whether you are a researcher, industry partner, funder, or policymaker, let’s join forces to raise awareness. Visit the WHO campaign and consider how you too can contribute. 

At Lygature, we are ready to engage. If you are interested in exploring how we can partner for impact, we’d love to connect.

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