Job Opportunity with Duke-Margolis! / Phage workshop! / The Martian!

Dear All,

I have many times previously shared webinars from the excellent policy team at Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy. Excitingly if you are in search of that type of role, they are now looking for a Policy Analyst who would be located in either Washington, DC or Durham, NC. Here is the verbatim job summary from the posting:

  • This position performs a variety of complex activities in research, writing, and analysis of quantitative and/or qualitative data within the scope of research and policy projects focused on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) at Duke University.
  • The specific topics within antimicrobial resistance vary, but may include policy proposals, innovative payment models, and incentives for antimicrobial product development and availability.
  • Primary responsibilities include conducting health policy-focused background research; drafting summary documents; performing literature reviews; extensive writing for a range of deliverable types (e.g., policy briefs, white papers, blog posts, peer-reviewed publications); and supporting planning and preparation for Center events, public/private convening, and other project activities through both content development and project/ logistics coordination.

Applicants ideally need a Bachelor’s degree in a field related to the position and two years of experience in policy/research/data analysis or related position. Could this be you? There doesn’t appear to be a deadline but I’d advise you apply soon if you are remotely interested!


Separately, please be sure to review the forward agenda. There are two new workshops, including in particular one on phage therapy. I continue to think phage therapy can/will become an important tool but we have yet to see all the pieces come together. The workshop by NIAID and NCATS looks like a very good conversation if you are interested in this area!


Finally, if you are looking for a movie recommendation for this weekend, might I suggest The Martian? As you will learn in this ~2min video, antibiotics are important to the entire plot!

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.

Current funding opportunities (most current list is here)

  • The AMR Action Fund is now open 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/).
  • New funding rounds from CARB-X are expected soon now that funding for the next 10 years has been announced! For the most current update, watch this 30-minute video from the June 2022 kick-off webinar.
  • It’s not a funder, but AiCuris’ AiCubator offers incubator support to very early stage projects. Read more about it here.
  • 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.
  • 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).


Upcoming meetings of interest to the AMR community (most current list is here):

  • 4-7 Oct 2022 (Dublin, Ireland): The 2022 ASM/ESCMID Joint Conference on Drug Development to Meet the Challenge of Antimicrobial Resistance. This is an excellent meeting, especially for developers … and if you’ve missed it, the recordings from the 2021 meeting are online. Go here for details on the 2022 meeting.
  • [NEW] 11 Oct 2022 (virtual, 11a-12.30p ET): REVIVE/GARDP-workshop entitled “Drug discovery strategies: Focusing on synthetic compounds and natural products.” Go here to register.
  • 13-14 Oct 2022 (virtual, 8.30a-5p ET): Workshop entitled “Accelerating the Development & Uptake of Rapid Diagnostics to Address Antibiotic Resistance.” Convened by the National Academies’ Forum on Drug Discovery, Development, and TranslationForum on Medical and Public Health Preparedness for Disasters and Emergencies, and Forum on Microbial Threats (wow, say that 3 times fast!), this workshop has a broad-ranging agenda focused practical approaches to developing rapid, point-of-care diagnostics. Go here for details and to register.
  • 19-23 Oct 2022 (Washington, DC): IDWeek 2022, the joint annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA), the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (PIDS), and the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists (SIDP). Go here for details.
  • 23 Oct 2022 (Cape Town, South Africa): Symposium entitled “Tackling AMR: How implementation research is vital in a One Health approach” sponsored by the AMR knowledge hub of TGHN (The Global Health Network). Go here for details.
  • [NEW] 25 Oct 2022 (9a-5p ET): Workshop entitled “Challenges and Solutions to the Development of Bacteriophage Therapy.” Sponsored jointly by NCATS and NIAID, the draft agenda looks to be a very good tour of the challenge and promise of phage. Go here to register.
  • 25-28 Oct 2022 (Stellenbosch, South Africa): The University of Cape Town’s H3D Research Centre will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a symposium covering the Centre’s research on Malaria, TB, Neglected Tropical Diseases, and AMR. Go here to register.
  • 17-20 Nov 2022 (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia): The International Congress on Infectious Diseases will take place for the first time as a hybrid event. Go here for details. 
  • 27-30 Nov 2022 (Perth, Australia): 32nd International Congress of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy is the biennial congress of the International Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (ISAC). Go here for details.
  • 3-7 Dec 2022 (Banff, Canada): Novel Approaches Against Emerging Antimicrobial Resistance by Keystone Symposia. Go here for details. 
  • 8-12 May 2023 (Lisbon, Portugal): 41st Annual Meeting of the European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases. Go here for details.

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