Gram-Negative Antibiotic Discovery Innovator Initiative to Drive Global Collaboration in Addressing AMR Challenges
Ken Duncan, PhD, discussed the launch of a $50 million initiative focused on developing new drugs for critical pathogens contributing to antimicrobial resistance.
The Gates Foundation, Novo Nordisk Foundation, and Wellcome have launched the Gram-Negative Antibiotic Discovery Innovator (Gr-ADI), a $50 million initiative designed to address antimicrobial resistance (AMR) caused by Gram-negative bacteria, which significantly contributes to global deaths, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, including infectious diseases and climate-related issues.
AMR is a critical global health issue, leading to 1.14 million deaths annually and contributing to an additional 4.71 million deaths. Despite the growing crisis, the world faces a shortage of new antibiotics, particularly in regions burdened by poverty and healthcare inequities. The Gr-ADI aims to accelerate antibiotic discovery through collaboration and data sharing among research institutions, industry partners, and other stakeholders.
Ken Duncan, PhD, deputy director at the Gates Foundation, shared insights on the initiative in an interview, explaining the key goals of the program, “This is an initiative to boost drug discovery against Gram-negative pathogens, which cause many deaths around the globe and are particularly problematic in low- and middle-income countries.” The Gr-ADI is part of a larger $300 million global health research and development partnership with the Novo Nordisk Foundation and Wellcome.
The initiative will focus on discovering new antibiotics for Enterobacteriaceae, listed by the WHO as a critical priority pathogen. Duncan explained, “We decided to put together a program that would be much more focused than just looking across the whole of AMR, and instead, we wanted to see whether we could increase the number of leads and potentially, eventually, drug candidates by taking a different approach. Firstly, by using newer science, such as advances in AI, genetics, and other ways to address the problem.”
The program also emphasizes collaboration among expert groups. “The key here in the initial part of the program is to share information and data within the context of the people who are working on the program. That’s the data that will help to promote collaboration and help to look at areas where the interfaces between scientists, who are taking slightly different approaches, often are the areas where you get the biggest breakthroughs,” said Duncan.
Collaboration will be central to Gr-ADI's success, with plans to bring together scientists from diverse sectors to work on shared goals. “Anybody globally can apply, and we’re certainly hoping to engage with scientists in low- and middle-income countries.” He further explained that the initiative would involve a variety of sectors, “Again, we’d like to make sure that this is a cross-sectoral program. Some of the really incredibly strong basic science is mostly done in academic groups, but it’s then linking that to people who are doing product development. Those could be in nonprofit research institutes, biotech companies, or pharma companies. Ideally, we’d like to see a cross-section of all of those different types of organizations engaged in this because everybody has something to contribute.”
The Gr-ADI program’s Request for Proposals (RFP) is open to researchers globally, particularly those from regions where AMR is a significant threat. The RFP will focus on the discovery of antibiotics with broad-spectrum activity against Enterobacteriaceae, aiming to reduce the impact of these pathogens, especially in low-resource settings.
Duncan stated, “We’re primarily looking at data sharing across those grantees. Now, eventually, as the science starts to mature, there will be a commitment in any of the awards that we make to share the data publicly, but it will take a few years to really get things moving and get to that stage where that set of data will actually appear in the public domain.”
The initiative builds on the Gates Foundation's history of supporting global health collaborations, such as the TB Drug Accelerator, which has led to clinical candidates in various stages of development. Duncan highlighted that collaboration remains key, “By having people work together, we’ll make advancements more quickly.”
For more information on the Gram-Negative Antibiotic Discovery Innovator initiative and to apply, visit Innovations for Gram-Negative Antibiotic Discovery.
