Sustainable funding schemes required to preserve Research & Development capacity for Antimicrobial Resistance

Together, these nine projects – all part of the AMR Accelerator funded by the Innovative Health Initiative (IHI) – call on government leaders, the private sector, and other stakeholders to invest in the development of new antibiotics and research on AMR, to secure a sustainable future for large-scale efforts. 

AMR is one of the greatest global challenges of our time, undermining healthcare systems that rely heavily on antibiotics to prevent and treat infections. The pressing need for new antibiotics will be highlighted at the UN High-Level Meeting on AMR on 26 September. However, the low return on investment in this area has driven many large pharmaceutical companies to abandon the field, resulting in a significant decline in the development of new drugs and therapies for bacterial infections.

According to the authors of the Nature Reviews Drug Discovery call to action, collaboration and risk-sharing are key to retaining companies in anti-infective drug development. Public-private partnerships like GNA NOW and the other AMR Accelerator projects allow different organizations to share risks and costs. These long-term collaborative efforts build expertise and capacity for antibiotics research and development. However, without continued investment, there is a risk that the new generation of experts trained across the AMR Accelerator projects also leave the field.

Speaking on the importance of initiatives like the AMR Accelerator, co-author Dr. Kristina Orrling, Global Health Portfolio Co-Lead at Lygature in charge of coordinating the GNA NOW Consortium said: “Any acceleration that can be offered in terms of raising awareness of AMR and producing better drugs and treatments for patients will prove very important for saving lives. The field is still quite dispersed – we need to bring more people together. This is where initiatives like the AMR Accelerator can make a real difference. By establishing the right connections and collaborations, as we have done in GNA NOW, we can achieve better health outcomes faster, bringing health innovations to the most vulnerable on earth.”

The AMR Accelerator projects have received funding from the European Commission via the Innovative Medicines Initiative (now IHI) and pharmaceutical companies that are members of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries (EFPIA). With a total budget of €479 million, the AMR Accelerator has progressed 44 antibacterial programs over the past five years. So far, the effort has resulted in 16 preclinical and clinical candidates, two completed Phase I studies, and five ongoing Phase I and II studies. The continued success of the AMR Accelerator demonstrates the value of public-private partnerships in replenishing the antibiotics pipeline and providing tools and infrastructure for the global research community.

The AMR Accelerator has created critical mass and synergies that have allowed the transfer of assets, knowledge, and expertise between projects. The results are tangible: better and more efficient science, a strengthening of the antibiotic pipeline, and a legacy of research infrastructures that can support the global fight against antibiotic resistance. These include, standardized infection models, clinical trial networks, open data resources and more. The key challenge for all nine projects is to ensure the long-term sustainability of assets, infrastructure and expertise. This, in turn, requires a commitment from governments and the pharmaceutical industry to long-term investment in antimicrobial research and antibiotics development. 

The call to action was published in the comment section of Nature Reviews Drug Discovery. The text can be freely accessed from the journal’s website between 23 September and 6 October 2024: The AMR Accelerator: from individual organizations to efficient antibiotics development partnerships.

To access the article after 6 October without a subscription, please go to the AMR Accelerator website.

Cite as: Fernow J, Olliver M, Couet W, Lagrange S, Lamers MH, Olesen OF, Orrling K, Pieren M, Sloan DJ, Vaquero JJ, Miles TJ & Karlén A, The AMR Accelerator: from individual organizations to efficient antibiotic development partnerships, Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, DOI: 10.1038/d41573-024-00138-9  

About the AMR Accelerator

AMR Accelerator programme was launched in 2019, with the aim to accelerate the development of medicines for patients suffering from infections with drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM), and Gram-negative bacteria, and build capability for antibiotics research and development. The programme is funded by the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI). The AMR Accelerator programme includes nine projects: AB-Direct, COMBINE, ERA4TB, GNA NOW, PriMAVeRa, RespiriNTM & RespiriTB, TRIC-TB, and UNITE4TB. Together, the projects have a €479 million budget. The 98 partners represent key stakeholders from academia, industry, small- and medium-sized companies, patient organisations, regulators, and Health Technology Assessment.

IMI projects are public-private partnerships, funded in equal parts by the European Union’s Horizon 2020-programme and the pharmaceutical companies that are members of EFPIA. 

More information: www.amr-accelerator.eu
AMR Accelerator portfolio: www.amr-accelerator.eu/amr-accelerator-project-portfolio/

The AMR Accelerator has received funding from the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking under Grant Agreements No 853967 I 853989 I 853979 I 853932 I 853800 I 853903 I 853976 I 101007873 I 101034420. This Joint Undertaking receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and EFPIA. ERA4TB receives additional support from Global Alliance for TB Drug Development, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and University of Dundee. UNITE4TB receives additional support from Deutsches Zentrum für Infektionsforschung e. V. (DZIF), and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU). EFPIA/AP contribute to 50% of funding, whereas the contribution of DZIF and the LMU University Hospital Munich has been granted by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. 

Disclaimer: This text reflects the author’s view. Neither IMI nor the European Union, EFPIA or any Associated Partners are responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained herein. 

About GNA NOW

Established in 2019, the GNA NOW Consortium (Gram-Negative Antibacterials NOW), is a joint initiative of 11 partners from industry and academia, aimed at delivering Gram-negative antibacterials with new modes of action to the clinical phase. The Consortium is focused on progressing treatments for severe diarrhoea, targeting four enteric pathogens: Shigella, Campylobacter, E. coli, and Salmonella. The Consortium consists of GSK (Scientific Lead), BioAster, Erasmus MC, Fraunhofer, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Inserm, Medical University of Vienna, North Bristol NHS Trust, University of Liverpool, University of Poitiers, and Lygature (Coordinator).

Find out more: www.amr-accelerator.eu/project/gna-now/ 
Email: gnanow@lygature.org

Acknowledgement of support

The GNA NOW project has received funding from the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking (JU) under grant agreement No 853979: ‘GNA NOW: Gram-Negative Antibacterials NOW’. The JU receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and is part of the AMR Accelerator.