AMR Action Fund

“She didn’t have any risk factors.” This harrowing story about a young woman in Canada suffering from MRSA necrotizing pneumonia is a stark reminder that #AMR can affect anyone, of any age, anywhere in the world.

It is well known that people with diabetes tend to get more infections than people without diabetes. But are people with diabetes more prone to developing antibiotic resistance? Possibly, according to a recent study in mice led by University of North Carolina researchers. ? The team gave diabetic and non-diabetic mice skin infections with?S. aureus and then administered the antibiotic rifampicin daily for four days. Somewhat unsurprisingly, the diabetic mice had significantly higher levels S. aureus at the end of treatment than the non-diabetic mice. What surprised the researchers, though, was that the diabetic mice quickly evolved resistance to the antibiotic over a four-day period while none of the non-diabetic mice showed signs of resistance. ? The National Institutes of Health overview of the research: https://lnkd.in/ep59PXuH Full study via Science Advances: https://lnkd.in/eNxkJmkh

Important article from Infectious Disease Special Edition highlighting the potential benefits of pivmecillinam for treating UTIs in the U.S., including clinical response rates up to 95% and low rates of resistance. Our portfolio company UTILITY therapeutics last spring obtained FDA approval for pivmecillinam, an important milestone for the company and us—and a critical step forward for the millions of women every year who suffer from UTIs. As Dr. Keith Kaye, the chief of the Division of Allergy, Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Rutgers Health Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, remarked, “It’s quite remarkable, actually. When you look at the rates on increasing quinolone and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole resistance in?E. coli, the fact that resistance has not emerged to pivmecillinam to any notable degree is quite impressive.” Link to the full article in the comments below.?#AMR

Attention AMR researchers: Gates Foundation, Wellcome Trust, and Novo Nordisk Foundation have launched a new initiative to drive innovation in early drug discovery for Gram-negative pathogens. The initial focus is on supporting the discovery of antibiotics with broad spectrum activity against Enterobacteriaceae. Learn more about the application process ?? and please share.

Congratulations to our portfolio company BioVersys AG, which began trading on the SIX Swiss Exchange today following its successful IPO. This is a positive step for BioVersys and encouraging news in the fight against AMR as the proceeds raised will enable BioVersys to take its lead asset, BV100, into phase 3 clinical trials against hospital-acquired infections caused by carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii, or CRAB, which the CDC has identified as an “Urgent Threat.” For those who may not know, Acinetobacter baumannii is an extraordinarily troublesome and difficult-to-treat pathogen. It has caused devastating infections among U.S. service members who were injured in Iraq or Afghanistan—earning it the unfortunate moniker “Iraqibacter”—and it lingers in hospitals, plaguing vulnerable and immunocompromised patients across the U.S. and around the world. In recent years, CRAB has emerged as one of the five top pathogens worldwide in terms of attributable mortality, according to the WHO, and the problem is only getting worse. In short, it’s the exact type of health threat The AMR Action Fund was established to help address, and our support of BioVersys is indicative of our investment focus on patient benefit and reduction of mortality caused by drug-resistant infections. I’m proud of the progress made by BioVersys on this difficult pathogen. I’m also grateful for all the stakeholders and partners supporting and financing late-stage antimicrobial innovation, like the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and the Global Antibiotic R&D Partnership (GARDP), to secure the public health benefits of effective antimicrobials. Replenishing the pipeline and ensuring patients have access to effective antimicrobials now and in the future requires a genuinely collaborative effort.?

Around the world, the rise of antimicrobial-resistant pathogens is undermining cancer care and harming patients, including Dr. Kristin Molven, who, while undergoing chemotherapy for Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, developed neutropenic sepsis, a life-threatening infection. “You need antibiotics to save your life at that point,” she told BBC Story Works in this short video, which powerfully illustrates the deadly threat AMR poses to cancer patients. #WorldCancerDay #AMR?via BBC StoryWorks & Pfizer & Union for International Cancer Control (UICC)

One hundred operations, multiple rounds of advanced antibiotics that needed to be sourced from abroad, and a double-leg amputation—that’s what one 27-year-old Ukrainian soldier endured after suffering devastating battlefield injuries that led to a severe antibiotic-resistant infection. As BBC News notes, AMR infections are soaring in the war-torn country, where the health system is beyond strained and casualties are mounting. One physician said that more than 80% of all patients admitted to his hospital are arriving with AMR infections. As we know, and as shown below from CDC reporting, there are significant global implications to the rise of AMR in war zones. Read more: https://lnkd.in/edgANSsV

Last month, a team of UCLA researchers reported in the American Journal of Infection Control three cases of extensively drug-resistant Shigella sonnei infection within the city. The strain is believed to be unique to Los Angeles, and the researchers wrote that the discovery "is alarming.” Yesterday, CEO Henry Skinner joined one of the paper’s co-authors on Southern California Public Radio to discuss the findings and the underlying conditions that have enabled #AMR to flourish in the U.S. and around the world.

UCLA researchers have identified a strain of extensively drug-resistant Shigella sonnei that appears to be unique to Los Angeles and has not been recorded anywhere else, yet. The initial report detailed infections among three men, but a co-author of the research cautioned that “what we found is probably only a fraction of what’s really in the community.” Research showed the strain was resistant to numerous classes of antibiotics, including cephalosporins. As AMR Action Fund CEO Henry Skinner told the Los Angeles Times, “The bacterium detailed in this report is resistant to some of our most widely used antibiotics, including ciprofloxacin and azithromycin — medicines that tens of thousands of patients depend on daily. With so few new antibiotics in development, it’s very concerning to learn that an XDR strain of?Shigella?may be gaining a foothold in the U.S.” Read the open-access study in the American Journal of Clinical Infection: https://lnkd.in/eXjCfkCe Read the Los Angeles Times’ coverage: https://lnkd.in/erDfqvS9

Interesting reporting on the persistence of Candida auris in Nevada. “Since September 2022, more than 100 new cases per month have been reported. That increased to at least 150 cases per month a year later, including four months in a row above 200 cases. The highest number of cases came in March 2024, when 293 were reported — 59 clinical infections and 234 colonization cases.” Full news report: https://lnkd.in/eMqFVE9V