Category: News and press

This article was published in the Parliament Magazine February issue 2016.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has led to a global increase in morbidity and mortality due to resistant bacterial infections.

Bacteria develop resistance naturally. It is hence not enough to only develop new antibiotics as the bacteria, through the process of selective pressure, will always find ways of becoming resistant. Therefore, to tackle the problem, we must instead focus on reducing morbidity and mortality rates of bacterial infectious disease. We must also carry out more research to better understand how resistance develops and spreads in the environment. To reduce this threat, we should develop improved diagnostics, data-driven, evidence-based and mandatory stewardship, better surveillance methods and smarter strategies and trials design. Changing how we use antibiotics in health care and agriculture should also be a key area for improvement.

The Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance, JPIAMR, coordinates national funding and supports collaborative action to fill knowledge gaps in this field. By mobilising existing and new resources the initiative can create a greater critical mass and attract new researchers into the AMR field. A Strategic Research Agenda (SRA), which outlines key [neglected] areas to tackle, guides JPIAMR and focuses research actions. The SRA also serves as a guidance documents for nations to align their AMR research agenda.

As resistant bacteria know no national borders, JPIAMR works at an international scale. By engaging individual nations beyond Europe as members (22 current members), the JPIAMR platform enables collaborative actions in areas of unmet needs. For example, in January 2016, JPIAMR co-organised a workshop with the US National Institute of Health (NIH) and the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which brought together scientists in the field of antibacterial resistance. The aim was to increase the trans-Atlantic dialogue and encourage scientific collaboration to enhance research addressing antibacterial resistance.

JPIAMR key activities

International collaboration with

• World Health Organisation (WHO) Global Research Agenda
• Transatlantic US-EU Task Force on AMR (TATFAR)
• G7 on the AMR Declaration
• Joint Industry Group EC-JPI-IMI-EPFIA

Calls for Proposals

• Yearly Calls
• Open Call: First Call (3rd JPIAMR call) for proposals in the field of AMR transmission dynamics

Scoping workshops to map gaps and future actions needed

• Diagnostics
• Research infrastructures
• Transmission dynamics

Mapping exercises of the funding landscape to identify gaps

• European AMR research mapping database available online

JPIAMR cannot address all aspects of the AMR problem, but can pave a way forward by producing new research, engaging new researchers and creating networks that create long-term momentum for other areas in society. There is an urgent need for interdisciplinary and public-private partnerships to support research in the antimicrobial resistance field. Exchanges between industry, public health bodies, and academic bodies will entail benefits not only from a cost-sharing perspective, but also for coordination of the respective research activities. This is where JPIAMR will make a difference.

If you are interested to know more about the Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance, do not hesitate to contact us at secretariat.jpiamr@vr.se

Article in Parliament Magazine

The Dutch presidency has told Europe’s ministers of health and agriculture they must work together if antimicrobial resistance is to be tackled reports Research Professional.

Europe’s governments must set aside worries about subsidiarity and make tackling antimicrobial resistance a common priority, Edith Schippers, the Dutch minister of health, welfare and sport, told delegates at a Ministerial Conference on Antibiotic Resistance.

Speaking at the presidency-organised conference on 9-10 February, Schippers said that, although she shared concerns about subsidiarity in the EU, “antimicrobial resistance is a cross-border health threat, whether we like it or not”.

The conference brought together health and agriculture ministers and emphasised tackling antimicrobial resistance according to a “one-health” approach by drawing on a mix of disciplines including human and animal health, the environment and agriculture.

In her speech, Schippers said that there was room for greater cooperation on antimicrobial resistance under existing EU regulations, but that political will was needed to develop new antibiotics and diagnostic methods.

She said that antimicrobial resistance and the use of antibiotics are still rising despite the existence of a European action plan for tackling resistance, and called on ministers not to look back in 10 years’ time having failed to reverse this trend.

The ministers were also addressed by Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organization, and by Vytenis Andriukaitis, the European commissioner for health and food safety.

On 9 February, the Community for Open Antimicrobial Drug Discovery, an initiative from the Wellcome Trust and Australia’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience and the University of Queensland that screens existing compounds for antimicrobial activity, announced an agreement with the EU Innovative Medicines Initiative’s €85-million Enable project to help candidate antimicrobials progress into clinical trials.

Note: This article is copied from Research Professional

On 20-21 January 2016, the Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance (JPIAMR), the US National Institute of Health (NIH) and the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), organised a meeting which brought together scientists in the field of antibacterial resistance. The aim was to increase the trans-Atlantic dialogue and encourage scientific collaboration to enhance research addressing antibacterial resistance.

With antibacterial resistance accelerating at an alarming pace, leading to a global increase in morbidity and mortality due to resistant bacterial infections, it was crucial to take the first step towards greater collaboration globally. The talks and discussions during the two days covered cutting-edge approaches to address antibacterial resistance.

“Our goal is not to fight antibiotic resistance but morbidity and mortality of bacterial infectious disease. And to do so, you need an entire tool kit. We need to control infections, not resistance,” said Fernando Baquero, Ramón y Cajal University Hospital, Spain.

Much discussion around continuous treatment of infectious diseases, when our current antibiotics fail, have centred around the development of new antibiotics. “We cannot get out of this problem by only developing new antibiotics. The selective pressure will always find ways of becoming resistant. How do we mitigate this relationship?” asked Henry F. Chambers, University of California. He went on to say that we must meet the challenge of resistance with improved diagnostics, stewardship which is data driven, evidence-based and mandatory, smarter strategies and trial design and finally “some new AB wouldn’t hurt either.” “When new drugs emerge we need a plan to reduce the emergence of resistance,” added George Drusano, University of Florida.

The use of antibiotics is one of the risk factors in the emergence of resistance. But it’s important to be aware that emergence and spread of resistance is different. Emergence comes from usage of antibiotics. For example frequently prescribing a certain type of antibiotic against a certain type of infection will select for resistance. The spread of resistance is different. Resistance can spread from the hospital to the community and then into the environment as well as from animals into the enviroment. That’s the cycle of spread.

We have been using antibiotics for a long time and it has been used as cheap infrastructure. It’s cheaper to prescribe antibiotics than a vaccine. And it’s cheaper to dose our agricultural animals with antibiotics than for example to provide better housing allowing more space which would also keep them healthier without antibiotics.

But how do we turn the tide? What are the alternatives? Researchers are working on alternative therapies such as Ecobiotic drugs. This is a new technology for the treatment of disease where the microbiome (the natural bacteria in our bodies) is being replenished to better withstand invading bacteria.

“We have to invest more money into research to better understand the problem of resistance from all angles. This is what the Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance (JPIAMR) is doing. We have recently opened a call for proposals in the field of transmission dynamics as we are dedicated to the one health approach,” said Laura Marin, coordinator of the initiative.

Read about the call. 

On 22 Januray 2016, the Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance (JPIAMR) co-organised a trans-Atlantic workshop discussing clinical trial networks in the field of antimicrobial resistance together with the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), the US National Institute of Health (NIH), the European Commission and COMBACTE. This meeting was the first of its kind.

“The meeting generated very fruitful conversations with represenatives of industry, regulatory agents and principal investigators running clinical trials,” said Laura Marin, coordinator of JPIAMR.

The workhop was preceeded on 20-21 January by the meeting ‘New Frontiers in Antibacterial Resistance Research’ which brought together scientists in the field of antibacterial resistance. The aim was to increase the trans-Atlantic dialogue and encourage scientific collaboration to enhance research addressing antibacterial resistance.

“The first step was to share experiences and increase collaboration. That was the purpose of these two days [20-21 January],” said Dennis Dixon, NIH/NIAID.

The Clinical Trial Workshop Objectives:

• to share information on current existing initiatives for clinical trial networks for antimicrobial resistance, in order to learn from each other and avoid duplication of efforts;
•  to discuss challenges and opportunities to overcome barriers for the efficient conduct of high-quality global clinical trials;
• to foster opportunities for collaboration between the different networks and initiatives in the EU, US, and CA to facilitate clinical research in our fight against AMR;
• to work towards solutions and recommendations to overcome the barriers identified through better alignment of existing networks and resources.

“To unravel the dynamics of transmission and selection of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) at genetic, bacterial, animal, human, societal, and environmental levels, in order to design and evaluate preventive and intervening measures for controlling resistance.” This is the topic of JPIAMR’s 3rd call for research proposals which opened on 18 January 2016. It is the first ever call on transmission dynamics. Research in this field is neglected, a fact which was demonstrated by JPIAMR’s research mapping across 19 countries from 2007-2013 which showed that only 9% of the total amount of research funding in this period had gone to projects within the field of transmission.

In this call, JPIAMR has joined forces with the European Commission under the ERA-NET Co-fund scheme to generate a total fund of over 24 million euro (for all participating countries) with a 6-million-euro European Commission “topping up” fund.

The main aim of the third joint call is to combine the resources, infrastructures, and research strengths of multiple countries in order to address transmission of antibiotic resistance following a ‘One Health Approach’. The goal is to foster multinational research collaborations to add value to and to build upon the research conducted independently at national level and to work together to improve the control of resistant bacterial infections of clinical and/or veterinary importance only.

The call is conducted simultaneously by 22 participating funding organisations from 17 JPIAMR member countries, Portugal and Latvia, and coordinated centrally, with a single proposal submission and peer review system. The call has a two-step procedure, with a first stage (pre-proposal submission) from which selected applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal. Applications are invited from collaborative consortia of researchers from participating countries according to JPIAMR and national eligibility criteria (see Call text and Specific regulations below). Under Horizon 2020, the European Commission is providing additional funding to ‘top up’ the funding that is being made available through national/regional funding organisations.

Deadline: The pre-proposal submission deadline is 17:00 (C.E.T) on the 21st of March, 2016.

More information and how to submit your application.

Brussels 19 December 2015. National and European research funding in the field of antibacterial resistance is unbalanced and underfunded, according to new research by the Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance (JPIAMR) published in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases today. The study, which is the first of its kind, highlights the need for increased and new investment across all Member States. The work was led by the UK‘s Medical Research Council (MRC).

The study mapped out antibacterial resistance research undertaken across 19 countries from 2007-2013, identifying 1,243 projects with a total public investment of €1.3 billion. The study looked at national investments and European Union organisations investments, including the European Commission’s investment in the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) and found that funding varies considerably across countries and within the different research areas. The 19 countries covered by the study are Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Israel, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the UK.

Antibiotic resistance has been highlighted as one of the main threats to human health worldwide. In 2007 alone, 25,000 patients died in Europe from infections caused by bacteria that were resistant to more than one antibiotic – and current trends predict this to grow to 390,000 deaths a year by 2050.

In order to address antimicrobial resistance, research across a wide range of areas in humans, animals, and the environment is critical. There is a need to develop new and preserve existing antibiotics and alternatives to antibiotics, improve diagnosis to reduce unnecessary and inappropriate antibiotic prescribing, implement surveillance systems to monitor resistance and antibiotic use, understand the development and transmission of resistance, and improve infection prevention and control strategies. The Lancet study is the first systematic study to look at national and European Union funding in antibacterial resistance across a range of research areas in order to identify gaps and opportunities to be exploited.

The JPIAMR mapping study has shown that across 19 countries from 2007-2013, 66% of funding was awarded to projects in the field of therapeutics. This is a stark contrast to the other fields such as transmission, which received 9% of the funding, 14% of funding went to diagnostics, 5% to interventions and only 2% awarded to projects on antimicrobial resistance in the environment and 4% in surveillance.

“Funds have been invested in AMR research, however this study clearly shows us a gap between the funding of studies needed to reduce resistance and the actual research funded. As well as increased funding, we need to tackle this growing concern together, by strengthening national and international collaborations, co-ordinating research activities, and combining resources “ said Mats Ulfendahl, Chair of JPIAMR’s Management Board.

91% (1,129/1,243) of projects identified in this study were funded at national level. However, they only accounted for 49% of total investment, suggesting that these are relatively small awards and highly focussed projects.

“National research investment is too low compared to that committed at European Union level. To achieve greater impact, nations need to come together and pool available resources. This entails working together in a more efficient way to increase the impact of research through strengthening national and international coordination and collaborations as well as harmonising research activities and national strategies. The results demonstrate the need for a Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance,” said Herman Goossens, Chair of JPIAMR’s Science Advisor Board.

Notes to editors:
Media contacts:
Sofia Kuhn, JPIAMR communications
Email: sofia.kuhn@vr.se
Phone: +32 486 67 39 42

Link to paper (open source): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/ S1473-3099(15)00350-3

Ruth Kelly, MPH, Ghada Zoubiane, PhD, Desmond Walsh, PhD, Rebecca Ward, PhD, Prof Herman Goossens. Lancet Infectious Diseases (Dec 2015). Public funding for research on antibacterial resistance in the JPIAMR countries, the European Commission, and related European Union agencies: a systematic observational analysis

Further information
Currently, there is no comprehensive database to document research at both national and international levels, and from conducting this work it is clear that improvements in data sharing and communication need to be achieved at national level in several countries. The JPIAMR is actively working to improve this and has turned the research data collected for this work into a useful, freely accessible, and searchable database available on the JPIAMR website. This will enable researchers and funders to determine what has already been funded across the different areas and determine what is yet required in order to set strategic priorities. It is likewise hoped that it will be used by researchers for networking and collaboration and to avoid duplication. If funders from other countries provide similarly detailed information of projects on ABR research, global gaps and priorities could be assessed.

About JPIAMR
The Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance (JPIAMR) joins forces across nations to fight AMR through effective collaborative actions in areas of unmet needs. A shared common research agenda enhances multi-disciplinary collaboration and ensures that knowledge gaps are quickly identified and filled.

At the moment, European AMR funding is skew towards research in therapeutics, largely ignoring other areas such as transmission dynamics and the impact of the environment, crucial areas to understand in order to reduce resistance.

The gap between research funding into chronic diseases and antimicrobial resistance is large but difficult to document. However, national AMR funding does exist but is relatively small and targeted. In addition, countries with low national AMR prevalence allocate more money towards research than countries with greater needs for AMR solutions. This suggests a need for greater coordination across Europe in order to fill knowledge gaps.

JPIAMR coordinates national funding and supports collaborative action to fill existing knowledge gaps. The goal is to shape cohesive and coordinated AMR funding and actions that maximise on resources and reduce duplication of research. Mobilising existing and new resources will create a greater critical mass and attract new researchers into the AMR field. A Strategic Research Agenda (SRA), which outlines key [neglected] areas to tackle, guides JPIAMR and focuses research actions.

JPIAMR cannot address all aspects of the AMR problem, but can show a way forward by producing new research, engaging new researchers and creating networks that create long-term momentum for other areas in society. There is an urgent need for interdisciplinary and public-private partnerships to support research in the antimicrobial resistance area. Exchanges between industry, public health bodies, and academic bodies will entail not only sharing costs, but also coordination of the respective research activities. This is where JPIAMR will make a difference.

To date 22 countries have joined forces in the Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance.

utveckling.jpiamr.eu

About MRC
The Medical Research Council is at the forefront of scientific discovery to improve human health. Founded in 1913 to tackle tuberculosis, the MRC now invests taxpayers’ money in some of the best medical research in the world across every area of health. Thirty-one MRC-funded researchers have won Nobel prizes in a wide range of disciplines, and MRC scientists have been behind such diverse discoveries as vitamins, the structure of DNA and the link between smoking and cancer, as well as achievements such as pioneering the use of randomised controlled trials, the invention of MRI scanning, and the development of a group of antibodies used in the making of some of the most successful drugs ever developed. Today, MRC-funded scientists tackle some of the greatest health problems facing humanity in the 21st century, from the rising tide of chronic diseases associated with ageing to the threats posed by rapidly mutating micro-organisms.

www.mrc.ac.uk

Blog by:

Hannah Boley, Science & Innovation Officer, Berlin
Part of Science & Innovation Network, Europe

Bugs don’t work in silos!

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is a topic that is difficult to escape at the moment, but that’s a good thing because it means it is getting the attention that it really does need. The news recently of bacteria being found in China that were resistant to the drug of last resort – colistin – in a way which allowed them to transmit this resistance to other bacteria, has only increased fears of further world-wide spread of this phenomenon and the coming of a post-antibiotic era. It also highlights the importance of international cooperation and the need for further research into how resistance spreads – it is said that the resistance in China emerged after colistin was overused in farm animals. The AMR Review Team, chaired by Economist Jim O’Neill, has today published its latest report on antimicrobials and the environment, giving an overview of the scale of antimicrobial use in global food production and making suggestions about how policies to lower their use could be implemented. The report is well worth a read.

The S&I Network in Europe has also been busy with its fair share of events to highlight the importance of AMR, working closely with the UK Chief Medical Officer Professor Dame Sally Davies to raise awareness of the UK’s work to tackle the issue. Our team in Germany, for example, hosted an event back in May with Dame Sally to promote the Longitude Prize to potential German competitors, and Switzerland hosted a similar event just last week. For those of you who don’t know about the Longitude Prize, it is a £10m prize managed by NESTA to encourage innovation to develop a rapid diagnostic tool that can differentiate between bacterial and viral infections – something which would help reduce the overuse of antibiotics, which greatly contributes to resistance.

But back to how resistance spreads – or transmission dynamics, as the experts say. This is a topic that the EU’s Joint Programming Initiative on AMR and its member countries and the UK’s Medical Research Council have identified as one of the key areas where we need to know more. And what is interesting about transmission is that you need to get a lot of different people with different expertise in the room – not just doctors and clinicians, but veterinarians and environmental scientists too. And it needs to be an international affair. That was why the S&I Network teams in France and Germany teamed up with the JPI-AMR and the MRC to bring together a diverse group of scientists who have different pockets of expertise to bring to the overall knowledge base. At a workshop in Berlin in October 2015 chaired by Professor Bruno Gonzalez-Zorn , we heard from specialists about transmission within the hospital setting, as well as scientists working to understand how resistance is disseminated in the environment and others who look at how transfer occurs between animals and humans. We were also lucky enough to have Dame Sally Davies come to set out how she and others are explaining to politicians across the globe about why we need multidisciplinary research around transmission to build up an evidence base for effective policymaking. It was great to see the reactions from the researchers – they were glad to have someone advocating the necessity of their work at the highest levels.

At the end of one of these workshops, I always get the sense that I have really started to understand the topics under discussion. But as time goes on and I start to concentrate on other work strands I start to forget what the real challenges are. That’s why it is always good to have a reminder at hand to explain it again. And so I leave you with a short video from Dame Sally about why the One Health approach is so important – because unfortunately bugs don’t work in silos…

For more videos, go to the JPIAMR video page.

If you’re a researcher, JPIAMR is soon launching a call on transmission dynamics. Read more!

At the conference ‘Tackling Societal Challenges’ in Lund on 3 December 2015, the chairs of the different Joint Programming Initiatives summarised how to move forward with the JPI scheme.

Publicly-funded research activities in Europe have increasingly been focused on the grand challenges; health, food, water and energy supply, climate change and societal transformation. The Joint Programming Initiatives (JPI) were created to help tackling these grand challenges. Beyond the considerable progress accomplished during their first phase there are still barriers to break down in order to improve the conditions for transnational research collaboration and to move towards more aligned research systems. Within this process JPIs will continue to strengthen the momentum supported by Member States (MS), associated countries and the European Commission (EC) but also research communities, private sector and the civil society in order to enhance Europe’s ability to generate solutions for complex societal and multidisciplinary issues.

The chairs recommend the 28 MS and associated countries to:

• Increase commitment and cooperation
• Simplify and shorten interactions between EC and JPIs
• Reduce operational bureaucracy between the various networks and have key actors
• Proactively promote awareness, visibility, attractiveness and legitimacy of JPIs throughout the different layers of a diverse research system to reinforce commitment
• Align key national actions incl. research infrastructures, mobility, capacity building, databases, organisation incentives
• Develop European synergies for knowledge based solutions and policies
• Favour global participation in JPIs
• Ensure a better international coordination between JPIs, MS bilateral cooperation, EC Directorates-General and ERAC (GPC and SFIC)
• Engage in frontier research
• Generate evidence, solutions and implementation for Europe
• Exchange and disseminate the best practices of the JPIs continuously
• Develop a transparent metric of key indicators to follow progress of JPI impacts

Read the entire declaration