AMR Action Fund

Yesterday on Capitol Hill, CEO Henry Skinner was among the experts who spoke with the House Budget Committee about the growing financial costs of drug-resistant infections and the urgent need for governments to drive forward incentives that attract investors and rekindle antibiotic R&D. As the Budget Committee noted, AMR already results in $20 billion in direct healthcare costs in the United States, in addition to about $35 billion in lost productivity annually. These costs are only going to rise without meaningful action. Learn more about yesterday's meeting and how the House Budget Committee is taking steps to address the AMR crisis:

"Insufficient financing has been a reason why breakthroughs [in antimicrobial R&D] are lacking...If the G7 members follow the lead of the UK and each commit to putting appropriately sized incentives into place, scientists around the world will have a real opportunity to create the kinds of drugs poised to save the lives of our children and our grandchildren," said John Alter during a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)-hosted listening session. #AMR

"AMR has become the climate change of medicine. It’s a slow-brewing catastrophe." Important reporting from Rolling Stone on #AMR in conflict zones. https://lnkd.in/eknA9-gP

“The real challenge for the industry is when you want good stewardship and extreme discipline on prescription, it’s hard for the industry to see…really big-scale returns on investment in innovation," said GSK CEO Emma Walmsley on @Bloomberg TV when discussing the threat of #AMR and the challenges of drug development. https://lnkd.in/exU7Hyjm

New Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show #AMR pathogens typically found in healthcare settings remain high post-COVID pandemic compared with 2019. "We can and must do more to combat antimicrobial resistance by investing in the prevention-focused public health actions that we know work, including effective infection prevention and control, accurate laboratory detection, rapid response, appropriate antibiotic and antifungal use and innovative prevention strategies." Read more: https://lnkd.in/ew5QRMym

Henry Skinner, CEO of the AMR Action Fund, told BioSpace that we need a shift in thinking about developing antimicrobials. “We need to think about antibiotics in much the same way as we think about roads and critical infrastructure. Because they get worn out over time, we need to continually invest in antibiotics as a whole—we need to fix the bridge before it’s broken.”

As NATO leaders gather this week for the 75th anniversary summit, it’s worth considering the incredible benefits antibiotics have provided to warfighters over the decades—and the risk antibiotic-resistant bacteria now pose in conflict zones. As Henry Skinner wrote in Harvard Public Health magazine, military leaders should be clear-eyed about the direct threat drug-resistant infections pose to their soldiers and the collateral damage they inflict on civilian populations near and far. https://lnkd.in/ecGZaE7p

“Antimicrobial resistance is a rising problem in European hospitals…In terms of healthcare associated infections, one [out of] four infections are caused by bacteria that are resistant to the most commonly used antibiotics.” Watch the full European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) video here: https://lnkd.in/eqRFB_tn

As Hurricane Beryl cuts a destructive path across the Caribbean, it’s important to consider the ways climate change and #AMR are intersecting. CEO Henry Skinner wrote last year about lessons from Hurricane Harvey in Texas, including one study showing that levels of pathogenic bacteria were significantly higher in water samples collected from the inside of flooded homes compared with water samples collected from flooded streets and waterways. "The world needs to better prepare for the likelihood that extreme weather events will drive outbreaks of drug-resistant infections," he noted.

ICYMI, the World Health Organization last month released its latest report on antibacterial agents in clinical and preclinical development worldwide. In announcing the report, WHO cautioned that “innovation is badly lacking,” and noted that of the 32 in-development antibiotics against bacterial priority pathogens, only 12 are considered innovative, and only 4 of the 12 are active against at least one WHO critical pathogen included in the highest-risk category. Access the full report here: https://lnkd.in/et7eQ8Jm