Henry Skinner PhD
CEO, AMR Action Fund
Policymakers have been warned that a USD1 billion fund to support development of new antibiotics is only a ‘temporary stopgap’ while urgently awaiting more robust market.solutions to take place.
A groundbreaking fund is helping support smaller biotech firms in the race to develop antibiotics to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
Funding for AMR solutions
The AMR Action Fund is investing USD1 billion in companies that are developing urgently needed antibiotics targeting bacteria and fungi that the World Health Organization has deemed a priority because of the significant morbidity and mortality they bring.
However, CEO Henry Skinner warns that the fund is only “a partial and temporary stopgap” to the problem and is “buying time” for policymakers to deliver more permanent market solutions.
Antibiotics are not
big money-makers.
Developing promising antibiotics
With AMR being one of the world’s leading health challenges, new antibiotics are desperately needed to treat superbugs. However, due to a lack of return on investment, investors have abandoned this area, and the pipeline of treatments is almost dry.
He explains: “Our focus is on supporting companies that are developing the most promising antibiotics in terms of potential public health benefit while raising the attention and informing policymakers on the need to change how antibiotics are valued so that upon the expiration of the Fund, other investors will support innovation to address the accelerating AMR challenge. Our goal is to support these companies, so they can obtain approval for two to four new antibiotics by 2030.”
Raising financial investment
Under the current system, a drug’s value is determined by its sales volume. That model works well in other therapeutic areas, but it is not the case with antibiotics.
“Antibiotics are not big money-makers,” Skinner continues. “They deliver incredible value to society, cure infections and enable a wide range of modern medical procedures like surgery, chemotherapy and organ transplants. While that’s good for public health, this critical contribution is not reflected in terms of patients’ access, which limits antibiotics’ clinical contribution and commercial potential, with investors fleeing to more financially rewarding and commercially viable areas.”
It is, he adds, a broken market that makes it exceedingly difficult for small and mid-size biotechnology companies to raise the necessary financing to advance antibiotics development.
Proper policies
Figures1 show how investors favour other areas. For example, between 2011–20, venture capital funding for US oncology companies totalled USD26.5 billion, but only USD1.6 billion for antibiotics. He warns: “Investors will continue to avoid antibiotics until policymakers enact meaningful policies that incentivise investment into antibiotic R&D, reward successful innovation and reflect the true value-contribution of antibiotics.”
While the AMR Action Fund is investing in promising companies until policymakers enact market solutions, that will not continue forever. Acknowledging that the UK and Italy are exceptions, Skinner states there must be longer-term solutions with “proper policies in place to make a real difference,” leading to the development of novel antibiotics.
[1] Biotechnology Innovation Organization. 2022. The State of Innovation in Antibacterial Therapeutics.
