About GARDP
The Global Antibiotic Research & Development Partnership (GARDP) accelerates the development and access of treatments for drug-resistant bacterial infections. Together with public, private and non-profit partners, GARDP works to preserve the power of antibiotics for generations to come.
GARDP is acting now to counter antibiotic resistance and save lives
Antimicrobial resistance (including antibiotic resistance) is one of the top 10 global health threats. In 2019, nearly 1.3 million people died as a result of drug-resistant bacterial infections, nearly as many as HIV and malaria combined. If left unchecked, antibiotic resistance may kill as many as 10 million people each year from 2050.
Centering antibiotic drug development on public health needs
We integrate as early as possible the constraints of public health needs and access challenges into the selection of our projects, so that these projects eventually benefit patients globally. We are directly involved in pharmaceutical and clinical development to ensure that every treatment we develop is safe, effective, affordable and suitable for use in diverse settings, including those with high AMR burden and limited resources.
We de-risk antibiotic drug development projects by negotiating collaboration and licensing agreements with pharmaceutical companies. In exchange for our expertise and financial support, we seek the rights to manufacture and distribute treatments, through sublicensees, in regions with high morbidity and mortality due antibiotic resistance.
Many low- and middle-income countries have expertise that is critical to address the global antibiotic crisis. Our public-private partnership model involves working with these individuals and all key stakeholders from the get-go to coordinate efforts in the antibiotic pipeline of drug development and access.
Impact to date
GARDP signed a first-of-its-kind license and technology transfer agreement with Shionogi and a collaboration agreement with Shionogi and CHAI that together aim to significantly transform the landscape of access to antibiotics for countries around the world.
GARDP welcomed the FDA’s decision to accept for review the New Drug Application for cefepime-taniborbactam, developed by Venatorx Pharmaceuticals in partnership with GARDP. If approved, cefepime-taniborbactam will be the first antibiotic treatment to be launched in collaboration with GARDP.
GARDP with partners completed one of the largest ever observational studies on the care of babies with sepsis—3,200 newborns in 11 countries worldwide. GARDP has used data from the study to design “NeoSep1”, a trial to identify improved treatment regimens for newborns with sepsis. GARDP is also accelerating the paediatric development of novel antibiotics like cefepime-taniborbactam.
GARDP has successfully completed a global phase 3 trial of a new first-in-class antibiotic, zoliflodacin, to treat uncomplicated gonorrhoea. If approved by the US FDA, it will be the first new antibiotic for treating gonorrhoea in decades.
GARDP has screened over 130,000 compounds plus extracts of natural compounds for antibiotic activity against two WHO priority pathogens. GARDP is now testing and optimizing chemical series (each corresponding to a promising compound) for possible development.
GARDP’s REVIVE is leading efforts to preserve and freely share scientific knowledge and tools for antimicrobial R&D at the global level, notably with freely available webinars that feature experts in the field from around the world.
GARDP partners with research and healthcare institutions around the world including those in regions that are heavily affected by drug resistance, drawing on local expertise and skills and building local capacity as needed.
GARDP envisions a world where all infections are treatable for everyone, everywhere.
Responding to a global health crisis: the story of GARDP
Responding to a global health crisis: the story of GARDP
The headlines in 2015 were alarming. A deadly superbug was spreading in hospitals in Australia. An outbreak of drug-resistant gonorrhoea threatened public health in England. The superbug “NDM-1” had reached 70 countries. The BBC warned, “Antibiotic resistance: World on cusp of ‘post-antibiotic era’.”
For years, the problem had been growing. Even as bacteria were becoming more and more resistant to antibiotics, pharmaceutical companies were exiting the antibiotic development industry. The work had become more difficult and expensive, so now the risks outweighed the rewards. And the antibiotics that were being introduced were not particularly innovative—there had been no new class of antibiotics in about 30 years.
In this context, the World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO), adopted the Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance (2015).
To deliver on this plan, GARDP was created in 2016 by WHO and the Drugs for Neglected Disease initiative (DNDi). Like WHO, GARDP drives a global response to antimicrobial resistance. Like DNDi, GARDP engages in public and private sector partnerships to research and develop new drugs for public health needs.
Following an initial incubation period in DNDi, GARDP was legally established in 2018 as a Swiss foundation (GARDP Foundation). Three years later, in 2021, the Swiss government granted GARDP legal privileges and immunities to facilitate GARDP’s collaboration with others working in the field of public health and in recognition of GARDP’s major role in the fight against antibiotic resistance.
Today, GARDP is a not-for-profit organization with close to 100 staff. They are part of the GARDP global network, including GARDP North America Inc., representation in Australia, DNDi GARDP Southern Africa Plc, the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative, and associated DNDi regional offices in India, Japan, South America, Southeast Asia and Kenya.
Together with essential support from donors and key research and development partnerships, the GARDP global network makes it possible to carry out global research and drug development trials, as well as expand access to antibiotics for appropriate use, in close connection with communities around the world.
GARDP thanks its supporters for their vital contribution to countering antibiotic resistance.
“The rise of drug-resistant bacteria is jeopardizing decades of progress and threatening our ability to prevent and treat infections that were once easy to treat. The Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership is an essential element of delivering the Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance.”
