ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE SOLUTIONS
WITH DR. JOHN H. REX
Latest Newsletters
Dear All (and with a wonkish alert!),The idea of more (and better) vaccines to prevent (or even be part of treating) bacterial infections has long intrigued. We certainly do have several good bacterial vaccines, but why not more?As part of this ongoing discussion, I really enjoyed a paper that came out back in December '24 about the impact of the vaccine modality itself. Here are the links you need:The paper that triggered this newsletter: Plotkin SA, Robinson JM, Fitchett JRA, Gershburg E, Vaccine Development Should Be Polytheistic, Not Monotheistic, Clinical Infectious Diseases, 79(6):1518–1520, https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciae460An excellent brief discussion of mRNA vaccines for bacterial infections: Bergstrom C, Fischer NO, Kubicek-Sutherland JZ, Stromberg ZR. mRNA vaccine platforms to prevent bacterial infections. Trends Mol Med. 2024;30(6):524–6 (doi.org/10.1016/j.molmed.2024.02.013).Prior newsletters about antibacterial vaccines9 Oct 2018 newsletter: "Vaccines for AMR / A major review of R&D opportunities is a discussion of a Wellcome-funded report entitled "Vaccines to tackle drug-resistant infections: An evaluation of R&D opportunities."29 Mar 2021 newsletter: "Vaccines to turn back the tide of antimicrobial resistance is a discussion of WHO's Immunization Agenda 2030: A Global Strategy to Leave No One Behind, 26 Nov 2024 newsletter: "NIAID/DMID call for antibacterials, antifungals, vaccines, & diagnostics" is exactly what it sounds like12 Dec 2024 newsletter: "Mirror...
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: I wrote previously about the...
Dear All, In case you...
Dear All,WHO's GLASS Secretariat (Global...
Dear All: Apologies for the...
“The world is changed by...
Dear All (wonkish note alert...
Dear All (and with thanks...
Dear All, Warm up your...
For those based in Boston,...
This is the first of...
Dear All: Early November will...
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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How hard (and how) to Pull? Net value of Pull via a Transferrable Exclusivity Extension (TEE)
Dear All (wonkish alert … get your coffee!), EFPIA have recently released a report estimating the value of a Transferable Exclusivity Extension (TEE, report, press
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Language matters: CRE vs. CPE; SDD vs. I; and MDR, XDR, PDR, UDR vs. DTR
Note: See also these related newsletters: 13 Jan 2019 (link) on DTR as part of the language of resistance and 7 June 2020 (link) on
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Melinta goes bankrupt / Never let a good crisis go to waste
Dear All (long-ish, wonk-ish note alert … lots of details to absorb): This newsletter has a followup here. Sadly, Melinta Therapeutics, Inc. declared bankruptcy just
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Reimbursing for innovative antibiotics / Encouraging updates from the AMR conference
Dear All (with thanks to Kevin as the lead author on this note and also with a wonkish note alert … refresh your coffee and
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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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FDA analysis of 40-years of antibacterial development: Dheman et al.
Dear All (and with thanks to Kevin Outterson for co-authoring this newsletter), Just out in CID is a paper in which FDA analyzes trends in
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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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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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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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Lessons in Discovery from Lynn Silver + Pro-con on alternatives to antibiotics
Dear All: “Good decisions come from experience, and experience comes from bad decisions … and paying attention.” You’ve probably heard the first part of that
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Assessing antibiotic value: DTR, fire extinguishers, and a view from Australia
Dear All (wonkish note alert — refresh your coffee before proceeding — with thanks to Kevin Outterson for co-authoring this note!), The intertwined questions of
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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...