AMR.Solutions

Milken Future of Health Summit: AMR Symposium

Dear All,

I’ve written in the past about the creative work done by the Milken Institute on health care financing (26 Mar 2022 newsletter, “Pull mechanisms: Private capital can multiply Subscription (Netflix) and TEV models!”).

Milken recently held a 3-day symposium entitled “The Future of Health Summit” (4-6 Nov 2025) during which there was an excellent 1-h session entitled “Terminating Superbugs: How New Technologies Can Fight Antimicrobial Resistance.”

Moderated by Jomana Musmar (CEO, AMR Strategic Coalitions [ASC], see the 4 Nov 2025 newsletter about the ASC), the discussants included:

 
The wide-ranging discussion encompassed global health (Lord Darzi), the need for access to drugs (Dr. Frieden), the need for access to diagnostics (Dr. Hemmert), the potential for AI to augment discovery (Dr. Kosaraju), and the distorted economics of antibiotics (everybody). It’s worth your while and also well worth sharing! Here we go:

There’s lots to enjoy in this video! I’ll start with the story by Lord Darzi about how penicillin saved his life at age 5 from meningococcal meningitis (approx. 14′ 10″ on the video). He connected this personal vignette with his work as a surgical oncologist, his role as Executive Chair of the Fleming Initiative, and his key message that antibiotics are fundamental infrastructure for modern healthcare and society. And as a fun aside, we learn that he practiced at St. Mary’s, the hospital in London where Fleming discovered penicillin. Note that you can actually tour the itty-bitty but fascinating Alexander Fleming Laboratory Museum at St. Mary’s! Be sure check their schedule closely … it took me several years to align my hours in London with their opening hours.

Dr. Frieden (former Director of the US CDC) did an excellent job sharing the systematic approach to public health he used during his work in the 1990s to control the then ongoing epidemic of tuberculosis in New York City (Frieden et al. NEJM 1995). Drawing as well on his experiences since then (e.g., directing the CDC during 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak), he now articulates a 3-step process for battling global threats such as AMR: (i) seeing patterns and risks, (ii) believing that progress is possible even when it seems hopeless, and then (iii) systematically creating a healthier future through action. He has recently written a book summarizing these ideas (“The Formula for Better Health: How to Save Millions of Lives–Including Your Own”), with all proceeds from book sales going to AMR-related work.

As a theme that ran through the panel, the steps of see, believe, and create can be usefully translated for AMR as diagnostics (see), policy (believe), and therapeutics (create). After the prior talks touched on policy (incentive models), innovation in diagnostics was covered by Dr. Hemmert’s comments on the way that greater availability of rapid point-of-care tests would both improve healthcare and facilitate stewardship.

Finally, we come to therapeutics and the creation of new tools. On this theme, I really enjoyed the discussion by Dr. Kosaraju on her work to use AI and deep learning to support R&D. I’ve been fascinated by AI since our 2020 discussion of AI-based discovery (start with the 21 Feb 2020 newsletter entitled “Chemicals vs. drugs (Part 1): The end of bacitracin / the buzz around halicin”) but note also the XKCD graphic summarizing the challenges of discovery. It’s easy to kill bacteria (steam, fire, bleach!) but selective killing of just the bacterium is an extraordinary feat … and my fingers are crossed in hope that Dr. Kosaraju and colleagues can solve this puzzle!

My thanks to the Milken Institute for organizing this session and for making this video readily available — this would be a great summary to share!

All best wishes, –jr

John H. Rex, MD | Chief Medical Officer, F2G Ltd. | Operating Partner, Advent Life Sciences. Follow me on Twitter: @JohnRex_NewAbx. See past newsletters and subscribe for the future: https://amr.solutions/blog/. All opinions are my own.

John’s Top Recurring Meetings
Virtual meetings are easy to attend, but regular attendance at annual in-person events is the key to building your network and gaining deeper insight. My personal favorites for such in-person meetings are below. Of particular value for developers, the small meeting format of BEAM’s AMR Conference (March) and GAMRIC (September-October; formerly, the ESCMID-ASM conference series) creates excellent global networking. IDWeek (October) and ECCMID (April) are much larger meetings but also provide opportunities for networking with a substantial, focused audience via their Pipeline sessions. Hope to see you there!

  • 3-4 Mar 2026 (Basel, Switzerland): The 10th AMR Conference. Sponsored by the BEAM Alliance, the 9th AMR Conference was an excellent meeting! A draft program has been posted and registration will open the week of 10 Nov at amr-conference.com/registration. Please mark your calendar to attend! 
  • 17-21 April 2026 (Munich, Germany): ESCMID Global 2026, the annual meeting of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. You can go here to register and view the preliminary program; the abstract submission window for 2026 will run 15 October to 26 Nov 2025. For those who would like a substantial opportunity to present a product to a large audience (see also adjacent note about IDWeek), I know that the meeting schedule will again include Pipeline Monday.
  • 22-24 Sep 2026 (Lisbon, Portugal): The 2nd GAMRIC, the Global AMR Innovators Conference (London, UK). Formerly the ESCMID-ASM Joint Conference on Drug Development for AMR, 2026 will be the 11th year for this series that is now under the joint sponsorship of CARB-X, ESCMID, BEAM Alliance, GARDP, LifeArc, Boston University, and AMR.Solutions. 
    • The ongoing series employs the successful format of prior meetings with a single-track meeting and substantial networking time. The 2025 meeting was a sell-out success and the video from the sessions is now available here.
    • [Don’t miss this: 16 Dec 2025 update webinar] The GAMRIC program committee is hosting an update webinar on 16 Dec 2025 (8-9a ET, 2-3 CET) that will include a review of the 2025 content and brainstorming on content for 2026. Go here to register! Don’t miss it!
  • 21-24 Oct 2026 (Washington, DC, USA): IDWeek 2026, the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Details are not yet available but I would expect the program to continue to provide a substantial opportunity to present a product to a large audience (see also adjacent note about ESCMID) as well as opportunities to present at an IDWeek Pipeline Session.

  Upcoming meetings of interest to the AMR community:

  • 18 Nov 2025 (virtual, 2-3.30p CET): OHAMR (One Health AMR) informational webinar regarding their first call. Go here to register for the webinar; see also the 22 Oct 2025 newsletter about the call.
  • 18-24 Nov 2025 (global, multiple locations): World Antibiotic Awareness Week (WAAW) is convened annually on 18-24 Nov by WHO with national events (e.g., CDC’s US Antibiotic Awareness Week (USAAW); ECDC’s 18 Nov European Antibiotic Awareness Day) occurring around the globe. Details will follow as events become visible. Media toolkits are being released
  • 20 Nov 2025 (Washington, DC, 9a-5p ET): BARDA Innovation Symposium. BARDA will be showcasing early-stage health security innovations supported by BARDA, including through DRIVe, BARDA Accelerator Network, BARDA Ventures, Blue Knight, and CARB-X. The symposium (see also the 20 Sep 2025 newsletter: “20 Nov 2025: BARDA Innovation Symposium”) convenes “a diverse network of early stage companies, government agencies, non dilutive funders, investors, and strategic partners all interested in developing the next generation of medical countermeasures (MCMs).” BARDA has consistently been a very creative funder seeking very diverse types of products … could this be you? Go here for details and to register.
  • 28-30 Jan 2026 (Las Vegas, NV, USA): IDSA and ASM have announced a new US-based meeting series entitled IMARI (Interdisciplinary Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance and Innovation) that is described as a “forum for collaboration and exploration around the latest advances in antimicrobial drug discovery and development.” Go here for to register. The window for general abstracts is closed, but a call for abstracts presenting new agents is now open through 1 Dec 2025.
  • 4-5 Feb 2026 (virtual, 8a-noon GMT on both days): Antimicrobial Chemotherapy Conference 2026, sponsored by BSAC and GARDP. Registration here: acc-conference.com. Abstracts are welcomed and can be submitted here; abstract deadline is Friday, 14 November 2025, 17:00 GMT.
  • 5 Feb 2026 (in person, Alderley Park, UK): BioInfect, the annual AMR-focused networking conference delivered by BioNow. Go here for details and to register.
  • 18-20 Feb 2026 (Sydney, Australia, in person): The “AMR 2026 Summit”, hosted by the Fleming Initiative and Australia’s Science Agency, CSIRO. This event (website) will spotlight evidence-informed One Health approaches, practical solutions to implementation barriers, and strategies for public engagement, education, and advocacy. Space is limited, so (and sort of like applying to attend a Gordon Conference), please register your interest to attend here.
  • 3-4 Mar 2026 (Basel, Switzerland): The 10th AMR Conference sponsored by the BEAM Alliance. See list of Top Recurring meetings, above.
  • 8-13 Mar 2026 (Renaissance Tuscany Il Ciocco, Italy): 2026 Gordon Research Conference (GRC) entitled “Antibacterials of Tomorrow to Combat the Global Threat of Antimicrobial Resistance.” A Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) will be held the weekend before (7-8 Mar) for young doctoral and post-doctoral researchers. Space for the GRS and the GRC is limited; for details and to apply, go here for the GRC and here for the GRS.
  • 17-21 April 2026 (Munich, Germany): ESCMID Global 2026, the annual meeting of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. See Recurring Meetings list, above.
  • 4-8 June 2026 (Washington, DC): ASM Microbe, the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. The meeting format is evolving and next year will combine 3 meetings (ASM Health, ASM Applied and Environmental Microbiology, and ASM Mechanism Discovery) into one event. Go here for details.
  • 22-24 Sep 2026 GAMRIC (Lisbon, Portugal), the Global AMR Innovators Conference (London, UK; formerly the ESCMID-ASM Joint Conference on Drug Development for AMR). See list of Top Recurring meetings, above..
  • 10-18 Oct 2026 (Annecy, France, residential in-person program): ICARe (Interdisciplinary Course on Antibiotics and Resistance) … and 2026 will be the 10th year for this program. Patrice Courvalin orchestrates content with the support of an all-star scientific committee and faculty. The resulting soup-to-nuts training covers all aspects of antimicrobials, is very intense, and routinely gets rave reviews! Registration for 2026 will not open for some time; go here for more details and put a reminder in your calendar to check back in the Spring if you are interested.
  • 21-24 Oct 2026 (Washington, DC, USA): IDWeek 2026. See list of Top Recurring meetings, above.

Self-paced courses, online training materials, and other reference materials:

Current funding opportunities

  • EU OHAMR (One Health AMR) has opened its first call with a request for consortia to propose projects on (i) combination therapies, (ii) ways to improve adherence to protocols, and (iii) ways to assess/inform regarding the impact of antimicrobials used in veterinary medicine and food agriculture. The window for pre-proposals runs 18 Nov 2025 to 2 Feb 2026. See also the 22 Oct 2025 newsletter about the call.
  • ENABLE-2 has continuously open calls for both its Hit-to-Lead program as well as its Hit Identification/Validation incubator. Applicants must be academics and non-profits in Europe due to restrictions from the funders. Applications are evaluated in cycles … see the website for details on current timing for reviews. 
  • CARB-X will have two calls during 2025 that span two areas: (i) Small molecules for Gram-negatives (the focus is on Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and (ii) Diagnostics for typhoid (the focus is diagnosis of acute infections in 60 minutes or less). See this 26 Feb 2025 newsletter for a discussion of the call and go here for the CARB-X webpage on the call. The first cycle is now closed (it ran16-30 April 2025); the 2nd round will be open 1-12 Dec 2025.
  • BARDA’s long-running BAA (Broad Agency Announcement) for medical countermeasures (MCMs) for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) threats, pandemic influenza, and emerging infectious diseases is now BAA-23-100-SOL-00004 and offers support for both antibacterial and antifungal agents (as well as antivirals, antitoxins, diagnostics, and more). Note especially these Areas of Interest: Area 3.1 (MDR Bacteria and Biothreat Pathogens), Area 3.2 (MDR Fungal Infections), and Area 7.2 (Antibiotic Resistance Diagnostics for Priority Bacterial Pathogens). Although prior BAAs used a rolling cycle of 4 deadlines/year, the updated BAA released 26 Sep 2023 has a 5-year application period that ends 25 Sep 2028 and is open to applicants regardless of location: BARDA seeks the best science from anywhere in the world! See also this newsletter for further comments on the BAA and its areas of interest.
  • HERA Invest was launched August 2023 with €100 million to support innovative EU-based SMEs in the early and late phases of clinical trials. Part of the InvestEU program supporting sustainable investment, innovation, and job creation in Europe, HERA Invest is open for application to companies developing medical countermeasures that address one of the following cross-border health threats: (i) Pathogens with pandemic or epidemic potential, (ii) Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) threats originating from accidental or deliberate release, and (iii) Antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Non-dilutive venture loans covering up to 50% of investment costs are available. A closing date is not posted insofar as I can see — applications are accepted on a rolling basis; go here for more details.
  • The AMR Action Fund is open on an ongoing basis to proposals for funding of Phase 2 / Phase 3 antibacterial therapeutics. Per its charter, the fund prioritizes investment in treatments that address a pathogen prioritized by the WHO, the CDC and/or other public health entities that: (i) are novel (e.g., absence of known cross-resistance, novel targets, new chemical classes, or new mechanisms of action); and/or (ii) have significant differentiated clinical utility (e.g., differentiated innovation that provides clinical value versus standard of care to prescribers and patients, such as safety/tolerability, oral formulation, different spectrum of activity); and (iii) reduce patient mortality. It is also expected that such agents would have the potential to strongly address the likely requirements for delinked Pull incentives such as the UK (NHS England) subscription pilot and the PASTEUR Act in the US. Submit queries to contact@amractionfund.com.
  • INCATE (Incubator for Antibacterial Therapies in Europe) is an early-stage funding vehicle supporting innovation vs. drug-resistant bacterial infections. The fund provides advice, community, and non-dilutive funding (€10k in Stage I and up to €250k in Stage II) to support early-stage ventures in creating the evidence and building the team needed to get next-level funding. Details and contacts on their website (https://www.incate.net/).
  • These things aren’t sources of funds but would help you develop funding applications
    • The Global AMR R&D Hub’s dynamic dashboard (link) summarizes the global clinical development pipeline, incentives for AMR R&D, and investors/investments in AMR R&D.
    • Antimicrobial Resistance Research and Innovation in Australia is an actively updated summary that covers Australia’s AMR research and patent landscape. It is provided via collaboration between The Lens (an ambitious project seeking to discover, analyse, and map global innovation knowledge) and CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, an Australian Government agency responsible for scientific research). Lots to explore here!
    • Diagnostic developers would find valuable guidance in this 6-part series on in vitro diagnostic (IVD) development. Sponsored by CARB-X, C-CAMP, and FIND, it pulls together real-life insights into a succinct set of tutorials.
  • In addition to the lists provided by the Global AMR R&D Hub, you might also be interested in my most current lists of R&D incentives (link) and priority pathogens (link).
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