BERLIN – The Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP) is pleased to announce continued support from the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport. The funding of €5 million will be used to support GARDP’s efforts to develop new treatments for drug-resistant infections and to ensure sustainable access, promoting responsible use and affordability to all in need.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major and rapidly growing global public health concern, with estimates of up to 700,000 deaths per year.1 Serious bacterial infections have been identified by the World Health Organization as a global public health priority. This investment from VWS will fund GARDP’s efforts to tackle infections that threaten public health by driving the development of new treatments in response to the alarming rise of gonorrhoea and serious bacterial infections in hospitalized adults resistant to existing treatments, as well as the 214,000 death of newborns every year attributable to sepsis.2
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 important infections and populations disproportionally affected by drug resistance, while promoting responsible use and affordability.
Minister Bruno Bruins (Medical Care and Sport): “Bringing countries together to fight AMR is one of my international priorities, because AMR poses a serious worldwide threat to public health. Bacteria don’t stop at borders, therefore no single country or organization alone can deliver a solution. We really need to step up our game. GARDP’s public-private partnership approach is one piece of the puzzle that’s helping us in combatting AMR. It leverages the best of both sectors to accelerate the development of new treatments, while ensuring their sustainable and responsible use, no matter where you live.”
GARDP has already formed over 50 partnerships in 20 countries that span governments, the biomedical and pharmaceutical industry, research institutions, not-for-profits, and civil society, and is building a pipeline to address infections in children, including newborns with sepsis, hospitalized adults, and sexually-transmitted infections.
Of the investment, Dr Manica Balasegaram, Executive Director of GARDP commented, “GARDP thanks the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport for their continued commitment to GARDP. By renewing its funding, the Dutch Government is showing strong leadership and confidence in GARDP’s ability to address this threat to global health and development. This funding will contribute towards GARDP accelerating the development of treatments that address urgent drug-resistant infections, while ensuring sustainable access.”
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.
References
1 O’Neill, J. (Chair) (2016). Tackling drug-resistance globally: Final Report and recommendations.
2 Laxminarayan, R. et al. (2016). Access to effective antimicrobials: a worldwide challenge. The Lancet. Vol 387, Issue 10014 (168-175).
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