AMR Conference: Summer Edition
Berlin, 30.08.2021 – At the summer edition of the AMR Conference, the AMR community urged policy makers to bring pull incentives into reality.
With around 30 international experts in the line-up, the virtual conference discussed the current state of the fight against antimicrobial resistance (AMR) during three Briefing sessions, which took place from 24 to 26 August. Almost 500 registered participants took part in the event to follow discussions about pandemic preparedness, the COVID-19 impact on AMR R&D, the financing climate and policy incentives. As in the previous years, the conference was organised by BIOCOM together with partners such as BEAM Alliance, CARB-X, the IMI AMR Accelerator and Novo REPAIR Impact Fund.
During the second day, the new initiative INCATE (INCubator for Antibacterial Therapies in Europe) was launched aiming at particularly boosting the early pipeline and spin-offs in the field. The academic founding members include the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), the research association InfectControl in Germany, the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research AntiResist and the University of Basel. Together with four pharma companies (Boehringer Ingelheim, Roche, Shionogi and a fourth one yet to be announced), they want to ensure that the pipeline of new antibiotics is filled and strengthened.
At the conference, Henry Skinner, CEO of the AMR Action Fund made a long-awaited announcement: the fund, launched last year, now has an investment team in place and will be ready to receive applications soon. The AMR Action Fund is backed by mainly large pharma companies and will also be opening a European dependence. Companies who are dealing with phase I to III clinical trials and targeting one of the WHO-listed multi-resistant pathogens can apply. The fund is open to all modalities and approaches. First investments will be announced by the end of 2021.
The next stock-taking of the field will be taking place next year when the 6th AMR Conference is scheduled to take place from 7 to 8 April in Basel, Switzerland.
Read the coverage by European Biotechnology magazine
Read the summaries:
Day 1 – COVID-19 impact and lessons learned
Day 2 – Updates on funds & accelerators
Day 3 – How to go ahead with pull incentives?