Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EXEDRA (EXpansion of the European Joint Programming Initiative on Drug Resistance to Antimicrobials)

Teaser

Antibiotics have saved millions of lives throughout the many decades they have been in use as a common drug to treat infection. However, antibiotic resistance is now a global health security challenge and it is predicted that by 2050 up to 10 million human lives could be lost...

Summary

Antibiotics have saved millions of lives throughout the many decades they have been in use as a common drug to treat infection. However, antibiotic resistance is now a global health security challenge and it is predicted that by 2050 up to 10 million human lives could be lost yearly due to antibiotic resistant infections. The Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance, JPIAMR is a global organisation comprised of 27 nations that coordinate national research funding and supports collaborative action for filling knowledge gaps on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) with a One Health perspective. The critical mass of JPIAMR Member States (MS) jointly address AMR, promoting transnational cooperation to combine resources, infrastructures and research strengths. JPIAMR EXEDRA is the second Coordination Support Action (CSA) for the JPIAMR and builds on the work of the first CSA (JPIAMR), which ended February 2016. EXEDRA provides a strong support structure for the JPIAMR during the implementation and expansion phase by maintaining a continuity between the objectives, tasks and Work Packages of EXEDRA and JPIAMR.

To date the JPIAMR has established:
• an organisation structure comprised of various boards and a central secretariat to support JPIAMR activities
• a common work platform for the 27 MS
• a global network of AMR research experts led by a highly respected scientific advisory board
• a Strategic Research Agenda
• a respected reputation as a global AMR funding organisation

The objectives of EXEDRA are to:
• Strengthen the joint effort to combat the spread of AMR by expansion of the JPIAMR membership or partnership to European and global members.
• Develop a strategic plan for a long-term sustainable management structure of the JPIAMR, to support an increased collaboration between member states (MS), the scientific community, and stakeholders in meeting the risk of losing effective treatment of infections due to increased resistance to antimicrobial drugs.
• Increase alignment of MS national inter-sectorial policies on prevention and treatment of infections, the support for innovation and development of new antibiotics or alternatives thereof and new diagnostics, and of increased and improved surveillance and reporting of the use of antibiotics, presence and spread of resistant microbes or resistant genes in humans, animals, food and the environment.
• Increase joint support for the use and maintenance of critical European and global research infrastructures of relevance to the AMR scientific community. To mobilise financial support in order to collect, characterise, increase awareness of, and to provide access to samples and data from publicly funded projects. To lower or remove legal barriers to share samples and data by identifying paths of possible alignment of national rules and regulations.
• Develop a JPIAMR Virtual Research Institute (JPIAMR-VRI), a dynamic network of AMR research facilities that will provide a close contact between the JPIAMR and the scientific community, and will be a platform for scientific interaction between MS to build research capacity in the area of AMR.
• Support the alignment of JPIAMR MS national AMR policies, programmes and resources in order to facilitate cooperation, efficiency of scale, and dissemination of best practices and knowledge.
• Increase the impact of the JPIAMR by extending the SRA into innovation through dialogue with industry.
• Use communication to raise awareness of the JPIAMR effort within scientific community, and mobilise researchers from other fields to increase AMR research capacity and innovation.

Work performed

From the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report, the main results achieved in JPIAMR EXEDRA are:
• Strategic plans for 2018- 2020 and 2020-2025 developed
• Five new JPIAMR members: Ireland, South Africa, India, Egypt and South Korea
• Increased efforts in international coordination of AMR R&D funders and among AMR key global stakeholders (mentions in G7 and G20 statements)
• Launch of seven strategic working groups
• Development of a communication plan and social media strategy
• Initiation of the development of a Virtual Research Institute (JPIAMR-VRI)
• Organisation of four scientific workshops (1. Early Discovery of New Antibiotics, Paris, France; 2. Environmental Dimensions of AMR, Gothenburg, Sweden; 3. Setting the scene for a JPIAMR Virtual Research Institute, Berlin, Germany; 4. Fourth JPIAMR Call Conference Maximising existing and future research efforts and resource alignment to combat AMR, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.)
• Launch of four joint transnational calls: 1. Fifth Joint JPIAMR Call: Comparison of Prevention, Control and Intervention Strategies for AMR Infections through Multidisciplinary Studies, including One Health; 2. Sixth Joint JPIAMR Call: Innovations against antibiotic-resistant bacteria: new targets, compounds and Tools; 3. Seventh Joint JPIAMR Call for Networks: Surveillance; 4. Eighth Joint JPIAMR Call for Networks: Building the Foundation of the JPIAMR-VRI
• Initiation of the process updating the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA)
• Initiation of a research funding mapping exercise
• Enlargement of the JPIAMR secretariat with 3 new team members

Final results

The JPIAMR EXEDRA Project will continue to work towards raising awareness of the antimicrobial resistance and work to further promote global coordination of AMR efforts that will have an impact on all aspects of society. The JPIAMR, through the EXEDRA Project will promote a One Health approach to addressing AMR. The expected results until the end of the JPIAMR EXEDRA project are:
• Further enlargement of the JPIAMR membership to further promote global coordination of AMR efforts
• Further efforts in international coordination and engagement with AMR R&D funders and among AMR key global stakeholders
• Development of a sound-based sustainability plan
• Release of the updated Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) with their implementation roadmaps
• Analysis of JPIAMR funded projects, and further development of tools to assess the funding of AMR research in JPIAMR member countries.
• Analysis of the AMR research investments landscape as well as a map of the AMR industry investments, research centres and research infrastructures
• Launch of the JPIAMR Virtual Research Institute (JPIAMR-VRI)
• Organisation of scientific and regional AMR workshops facilitating scientific exchange between researchers between different scientific areas and geographical locations
• Launch of joint transnational calls
• Development of new capacity programmes
• Promotion of joint activities for sharing of AMR data and relevant research infrastructures .

Website & more info

More info: https://www.jpiamr.eu/.