$1 billion antibiotics research fund launched by pharmaceutical companies

More than 20 leading biopharmaceutical companies announced the launch of the AMR Action Fund, a ground-breaking partnership that aims to bring 2-4 new antibiotics to patients by 2030.

These treatments are urgently needed to address the rapid rise of antibiotic-resistant infections – also called antimicrobial resistance (or AMR).

The companies have raised so far nearly US$1 billion new funding to support clinical research of innovative new antibiotics that are addressing the most resistant bacteria and life-threatening infections.

Richard Torbett, Chief Executive of the ABPI said:

“This is a significant investment from an industry that’s serious about fighting antimicrobial resistance, but it’s just one piece of a very complicated puzzle.

“This new research fund comes with a plea to national Governments around the world to ramp up their efforts to fix the market and work with us to find a sustainable solution.”

Over the past year, the UK Government has made significant moves in the fight against AMR announcing a pilot to try a new funding model at the start of 2019 and just last week launching contracts to test this in action – becoming the first country in the world to trying something like this.