BERLIN – Today, the Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP) unveiled its strategy to deliver five new treatments that address urgent drug-resistant infections by 2025 at the World Health Summit. Uniting against antibiotic resistance: delivering 5 BY 25¹ sets out how GARDP plans to develop new treatments for bacterial infections, safeguarding their sustainable access so they are available to everyone, everywhere.

To realize this ambition, GARDP calls on Member States, philanthropic and other global organizations to support its new strategy by contributing towards its target of €500 million.

Working together with public and private sector partners, GARDP is building, investing in, and co-developing a public health-oriented portfolio with a focus on late-stage development for diseases and populations disproportionally affected by drug resistance, while promoting responsible use and affordability.

Each year, an estimated 700,000 people die worldwide as a result of antimicrobial-resistant infections (AMR)². While the burden is highest among vulnerable populations – women, children, the elderly, immuno-compromised people – and those in countries with weak health systems, AMR can affect anyone, of any age, in any country. In 2015, 670,000 people in the European Union contracted antibiotic-resistant infections resulting in around 33,000 deaths. The burden was highest in babies under the age of one, and adults over the age of 65³.

WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “WHO is one of the co-founders supporting GARDP in building a pipeline of innovative treatments to address antibiotic resistant infections and make these treatments available to all. I call on governments, foundations and other donors to engage and help GARDP in achieving its aim to develop five new treatments by 2025.”

The unveiling comes as donors and partners reaffirmed their support for GARDP’s not-for-profit approach to developing new treatments, including investments from Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the UK. Anja Karliczek, Federal Research Minister at the German Federal Research Ministry of Education and Research said: “Drug-resistant infections pose significant health challenges to us as a global society. Preventing the very real scenario of a world without effective antibiotics will require particularly enhanced research and development activities. GARDP is ideally placed to build the required partnerships to deliver new treatments for priority public health needs.”

Speaking from the Summit, Dr Manica Balasegaram, Executive Director, GARDP, reinforced that developing new treatments to address drug-resistance cannot be done in isolation. “GARDP’s donors and partners are the key to our success and I truly believe that by working together, we can be more than the sum of our parts. By working with experts in both the public and private sectors, GARDP can take advantage of the best available innovation, expertise, and resources.”

Since its inception, GARDP has formed over 50 partnerships in 20 countries that span governments, the biomedical and pharmaceutical industry, research institutions, not-for-profits, and civil society. Dr Balasegaram continued, “I thank all our partners and funders for their support. None of our achievements would have been possible without them.”

After three years in operation, GARDP has already built a pipeline to address infections in children including newborns with sepsis, hospitalized adults, and sexually-transmitted infections.

About GARDP

GARDP is a not-for-profit public health research and development (R&D) organization, co-founded by WHO and Drugs for Neglected Disease initiative in 2016. As a core element of the Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance, GARDP is driving R&D in late-stage clinical development for treatments that meet the greatest public health needs. This includes those that target bacteria on WHO’s priority pathogen list, important infections and underserved populations, while ensuring sustainable access.

GARDP thanks its donors for their loyal commitment and collaboration: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, German Federal Ministry of Health, Leo Model Foundation, Luxembourg Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid, Luxembourg Ministry of Health, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Principality of Monaco Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Netherlands Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, South African Medical Research Council, Swiss Federal Office of Public Health, UK Department of Health and Social Care, UK Department for International Development, and the Wellcome Trust. www.gardp.org

References

1 GARDP. (2019). Uniting against antibiotic resistance: delivering 5 BY 25.
2 O’Neill, J. (Chair) (2016). Tackling drug-resistance globally: Final Report and recommendations. Available: here
3 Cassini, A. et al. (2019). Attributable deaths and disability-adjusted life-years caused by infections with antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the EU and the European Economic Area in 2015: a population-level modelling analysis. The Lancet Infectious Diseases. Vol 19, Issue 1 (56-66).