The Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP) and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to explore joint opportunities to tackle antibiotic resistance in India and globally.

Through this MOU, the parties will seek to collaborate on research and development opportunities, including clinical trials, epidemiological, observational and interventional studies, to facilitate the development of new treatments and their registration for use with priority populations.

India, which faces a high burden of bacterial infections and antibiotic resistance, has been identified as a priority country for GARDP. The country’s extensive research and development capacity provides an opportunity for India to play a leading role in the global fight against drug resistance.

“This collaboration will pave the way for close cooperation between ICMR and GARDP to strengthen research and development in the area of antimicrobial resistance, potentially leading to the development of new treatments which are urgently needed to treat drug-resistant infections,” said Dr Kamini Walia, Senior Scientist and Program Officer AMR at the Indian Council of Medical Research.

“This Memorandum of Understanding provides the foundation for a strategic partnership between ICMR and GARDP to maximise the impact of each party’s activities in the field of antibiotic resistance research and development,” said Seamus O’Brien, GARDP Director of Research and Development.

ICMR is one of the world’s oldest medical research bodies, founded by the Government of India (as the Indian Research Fund Association) in 1911. Funded through the Department of Health Research, and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, antibiotic resistance is a research focus area for ICMR.

About GARDP

The Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP) is a Swiss not-for-profit organization developing new treatments for drug-resistant infections that pose the greatest threat to health. GARDP was created by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) in 2016 to ensure that everyone who needs antibiotics receives effective and affordable treatment, no matter where they live. GARDP aims to develop five new treatments by 2025 to fight drug-resistant infections, focusing on sexually transmitted infections, sepsis in newborns and infections in hospitalized adults and children. GARDP is funded by the governments of Germany, Japan, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, South Africa, Switzerland, United Kingdom, as well as Médecins Sans Frontières and private foundations. GARDP is registered under the legal name GARDP Foundation. www.gardp.org

About ICMR

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the apex body in India for the formulation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research, is one of the oldest medical research bodies in the world. The ICMR has always attempted to address itself to the growing demands of scientific advances in biomedical research on the one hand, and to the need of finding practical solutions to the health problems of the country, on the other. The ICMR has come a long way from the days when it was known as the IRFA, but the Council is conscious of the fact that it still has miles to go in pursuit of scientific achievements as well as health targets. www.icmr.gov.in