Category: News and press

We present the re-designed JPIAMR project database! Search information on projects and networks supported under the various calls coordinated by the JPIAMR.

Visit and use the re-designed JPIAMR project database, presenting information on projects and networks supported under the various calls coordinated by the JPIAMR. The database allows users to search interactive data by investments in AMR research priority areas (as defined in the JPIAMR Strategic Research Innovation Agenda), countries of the researchers involved and details of the individual research projects and networks.

To date, JPIAMR has coordinated and awarded 101.7 M€, supporting 118 research projects, involving 1 289 researchers representing 71 countries.

Explore the database.

This unique free-access point aims to facilitate knowledge exchange and data sharing of antimicrobial resistance research data for the entire AMR community across the globe.

The JPIAMR-VRI (Virtual Research Institute) Digital Platform connects datasets through integration of various databases, such as the CARD, Resapath, NCBI Isolates browser ATLAS with more than 140 different public data sources already available in the DISQOVER platform provided by ONTOFORCE. This will help the user analyse, integrate and extract AMR data more efficiently to bring simplicity to complex datasets.

• Register and login to explore the JPIAMR-VRI Digital Platform
• Read more about the JPIAMR-VRI Digital Platform

Please provide your feedback to secretariat.jpiamr@vr.se on the entire experience of using the platform and what other AMR relevant datasets would you like to be included in the platform.

During this three day JPIAMR workshop insights and updates were shared regarding the state of the therapeutics pipeline in a context of related topics and perspectives. The event was attended by 400 people from 45 different countries.

The video recordings of the workshop are now available on the JPIAMR YouTube Channel. Please click on the links to watch the sessions from each day:

• Day 1
• Day 2
• Day 3

Below please find the summaries of the workshop sessions. A full workshop report will be published later.

Day 1, April 20

Session 1: Antimicrobial Therapeutics Landscape

• The current antimicrobial pipeline is insufficient to tackle the challenges of AMR (WHO, Pew Trust). Still no novel classes addressing WHO priorities.
• Funders are supporting a diversity of approaches: novelty vs improvements, traditional vs non-traditional (JPIAMR, CARB-X, IMI,). Important to fill gaps in the R&D value chain: new differentiation criteria (BEAM), clinical trial capacities & capabilities (Wellcome).
• EU (Horizon Europe) taking a variety of AMR initiatives with a One Health approach (partnerships, SMEs, pull incentives)

Session 2:  Choosing wisely — is your product worth developing?

• Public health needs (WHO priorities) and the future reimbursement landscape should drive our choices.
• Need to consider new mechanisms to reveal the hidden value of antibiotics (“fire extinguishers”)
  • Added value vs “existing”: Payers need to see data on targeted populations (though phase 4 trials?)
  • Individual vs societal: “benefit to those around me“ is difficult to assess, but regulators (EMA) are open to finding a solution
• What is desirable and what is achievable: “push” funders are taking a balanced portfolio approach (CARB-X, Novo) also trying to cover geographical gaps (GARDP) but pull incentives are absolutely needed to achieve sustainability

Session 2a: Activities to support the AMR therapeutics research community

• Patient involvement in research helps to determine societal value of products – charities and patient groups can be an important resource for researchers
• Research platforms support research collaboration and coordination – crossing geographic and sectoral boundaries
• Coordinated efforts and information exchange are required to facilitate the transition of innovative products through the AMR therapeutics pipeline and reduce duplication of effort

Day 2, April 21

Session 3: Mtb antimicrobial pipeline

• Exciting times for TB drug development with novel regimens and a vibrant pipeline
• Partnership and collaboration are the keys to success: academic discovery and tools, SME agility and Pharma expertise all contribute to reducing duplication of effort
• Early hit triage based on predicted in vivo relevance helps in reducing drug discovery risks, clinical failure and downstream development costs
• Optimal drug dosing is critical to balance risk-benefit to improve treatment success; lesion specific PK rather than plasma
• Novel strategies and outcomes
  • Phenotypic screens
  • Blocking efflux pumps
  • Adjunctive agents to boost efficacy
• Repurposing of drugs can reduce time and costs of drug development: the example of Nitazoxanide

Session 4: Novel antimicrobial targets

• Stimulation of the innate immune system as a non-traditional target to quench infection and reduce treatment failure
• Chemical and antibody screens targeting biofilm formation and other anti-virulence approaches to avoid gene transfer and resistance
• Novel HTS strategies that explore the non-coding RNA space by targeting TPP riboswitches
• Novel antimicrobials specific against Helicobacter pylori – FLAV4AMR

Session 5: Non-traditional antimicrobials

• Tolerance inhibitors sensitize Mtb to stress that is induced under infection, improve the function of Isoniazid, and re-sensitize infections to Isoniazid-resistant isolates
• Understanding PKPD, in vivo relevance, innate immunity and resistance to develop antimicrobial peptides that can be delivered systemically
• Antimicrobial peptides and bacteriocins: highly potent agents with potential for reduced antimicrobial resistance
• Bacteriocins provide opportunities for directed delivery of antimicrobials to improve patient management and compliance

Day 3, April 22

Session 6: Novel strategies

• Microbial metabolism is attractive novel target for drug development
• Novel artificial siderophores as “Trojan Horses” – tools for the detection (bioluminescence) and treatment of gram-neg infections
• Computational modelling approaches that capture biological context and complexity to identify novel targets for antibacterial therapies – drug target identification is key to a successful drug development process
• Adjuvants inhibiting bacterial pump efflux to maximise the intrabacterial concentration of antibiotics
• Combination of antibiotics and antibiotic/ adjunctive agents show in vitro activity and PK showing potential for treating resistant pathogens

Session 7: Economic incentives

• Existing models of reimbursement don’t work for antimicrobial therapeutics
• Current and future value to the health system needs to be assessed
• Pilot payments/ reimbursement modes are being tested in the UK and Sweden:
  • Payments are delinked from the volume of use (sales)
  • Critical that more countries develop their own models in order to achieve global impact (eg: Pasteur Act in US Congress)
• Open Science partnerships to speed-up drug discovery and translation
  • Regulatory data protection supports broad freedom-to-operate and provides private sector incentives

Session 8: Antimicrobial Stewardship, Access and Sustainability

• Health systems can be rescued if we act collectively now
• The global disparity in access to antimicrobials needs to be addressed
• We need innovation, access and security across the whole value chain of antimicrobials
• Stewardship and access are the cornerstones of medicine – aim to treat everyone everywhere
  • Lack of incentives for antimicrobial stewardship
• Work needed to implement national action plans and implement IACG recommendations

The three Joint Programming Initiatives (JPIs) on Water, Oceans and Antimicrobial Resistance are pleased to announce the results from the AquaticPollutants Joint Transnational Call and the Call on knowledge transfer of research on Aquatic Pollutants.

Eighteen projects have been recommended for funding within the Aquatic Pollutants joint call on risks posed to human health and the environment by pollutants and pathogens present in the water resources. In total the projects have 103 applicants involved and will be awarded with 20M€ in requested funding.

Furthermore a Scientific Networking and Transfer Project has been recommended for funding within the Call on knowledge transfer of research on Aquatic Pollutants to strengthen the European Research Area (ERA) in the field of clean and healthy aquatic ecosystems, to fund research and development of methods for supporting knowledge transfer, scientific networking and public engagement as well as to support networking of the eighteen scientific projects of AquaticPollutants.

AquaticPollutants

After an initial 184 pre-proposals involving 1065 partners were submitted in the first step, the second step closed in November 2020 with a total number of 53 full-proposals submitted including 301 partners. In both steps the proposals were assessed for eligibility by the Call Steering Committee and evaluated by a panel of scientific experts. The projects are about to start in September 2021. The projects revolve around three themes:

1. Measuring – Environmental behaviour of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), pathogens and antimicrobial resistant bacteria in aquatic ecosystems
2. Evaluating – Risk assessment and management of CECs, pathogens and antimicrobial resistant bacteria from aquatic ecosystems (inland, coastal and marine) to human health and environment
3. Taking Actions – Strategies to reduce CECs, pathogens and antimicrobial resistant bacteria in aquatic ecosystems (inland, coastal and marine)

The list of the selected projects is available here.

For more information about the Aquatic Pollutants Joint Transnational Call, see:

• JPIAMR
• JPI Oceans
• Water JPI

Call on knowledge transfer of research on Aquatic Pollutants

The project AquaticPollutantsTransNet has been recommended for funding by an independent scientific panel. The project is a consortium of four partners (two French, one German and one Swedish). The project should start in spring of 2021 for a duration of approximatively four years.

The Call on knowledge transfer of research on Aquatic Pollutants was launched in support of the three Joint Programming Initiatives (JPIs) on Water, Oceans and Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) to strengthen the European research area in the field of clean and healthy aquatic ecosystems by facilitating networking between researchers, knowledge hubs and the dissemination of scientific data into the public and administrative sectors. The call opened in February 2020 with a budget of 1M€ gathered by 3 funding agencies involved: Sweden (SRC), Germany (BMBF) and France (ANR) and dedicated to fund proposals issued from the existing call Aquatic Pollutants.

This new database presents information on projects and networks supported under the various calls coordinated by the JPIAMR.

The JPIAMR supported AMR research database allows users to explore data by investments in AMR research priority areas (as defined in the JPIAMR Strategic Research Innovation Agenda), countries of the researchers involved and details of the individual research projects and networks.

Explore the database.

JPIAMR is proud to launch the new Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA), which has been broadened to include antifungal research and innovation priorities.

JPIAMR has held a series of consultations with the antifungal research community to incorporate antifungal research priorities in to the JPIAMR SRIA. The SRIA is a prime guiding tool for AMR research prioritisation in investments, research activities and planning for JPIAMR member states and other funding initiatives. It is also one of the most thorough guidelines on AMR research, helping researchers, policymakers, media, educators, health workers and the scientific community to work together on solutions to curb AMR on a global scale.

Read more and download the new SRIA.

The JPIAMR will be holding a webinar in alignment with the launch of the broadened JPIAMR SRIA: Supporting Transnational Research Collaboration on Fungal Drug Resistance. The webinar will be held on 28 April 2021, 14.00-16.45 CET, and is organised in collaboration with the Israel Ministry of Health.

Read more and register to the webinar.

The JPIAMR has led and facilitated a series of webinars on ’AMR in a post-pandemic world’. Two articles have recently been published summarising the outcomes of the webinars and discussing the potential impact of COVID-19 on antimicrobial resistance and providing key recommendations.

In 2020, JPIAMR held a series of webinars engaging clinical, research and policy experts to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on antimicrobial resistance. The outcomes of the webinars have been published in two journal articles. The first article, published in the Journal of Global Antimicrobial Resistance provides a statement on the impact COVID-19 has had on AMR stewardship, surveillance, research and data sharing. The second article, published in the Transactions of The Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene reviews antibiotic use and factors affecting the spread of AMR in the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the paper provides key recommendations targeted towards clinical, research and policy stakeholders for antimicrobial resistance in the pandemic and post-pandemic times.  

JPIAMR would like to thank the participants in the webinars and the authors of the papers for their engagement and efforts for the outcomes.