Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) emerged from several factors: overprescriptions, misuse of antibiotics, bacteria’s mutation faster than before reducing the efficacy of the antibiotics currently available. In addition to that, the last review on AMR predicted that if we don’t remediate this growing threat, 10 million people will die each year by 2050[1]. This is the reason why some people and organizations determined to make a concrete global effort to tackle this plague, joined a Joint Programming Initiative (JPI) on AMR.
Among them, two members of the Diagoras‘ consortium joined a european JPIAMR; Hahn-Schickard, specialized in Microsystems engineering and Microfluidics, and Erasmus University Medical Centre, specialized in Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health research on antimicrobial resistances.
Dr. Konstantinos MITSAKAKIS, Dr. John HAYS and their teams will use their expetise to serve this global initiative to solve one of the biggest threats to the humankind.
What is a Joint Programming Initiative?
JPIAMR: Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance
As the efforts of each research institution or each organization working on societal challenges are dispersed all over Europe, it’s hard to have a complete overview on what have been done or still in progress concerning the research. For this reason, the priority in this situation is to collect a maximum of information and “make a better use of Europe’s public R&D resources”[2]. As the saying goes: “United we stand, divided we fall“.
Besides, a JPI can be joined only on a voluntary basis as each member will contribute to a common Strategic Research Agenda in order to assess the global progress.
What is the importance of a JPI on AMR?
Since the discovery of penicillin in 1928 by Alexander Flemming, antibiotics allowed human kind to not succumb to infectious diseases, especially after World War II. However, he warned already at this time that it would be necessary to find new antibiotics as the current ones are becoming ineffective because of misuse and overuse.
In order to materialize this global effort to tackle antibiotic resistance, a JPI on AMR is a good mean to gather organizations, research institutions, and any related individuals working on this societal challenge. This common work will allow some achievements such as new preventative and therapeutic approaches or an increased visibility of the burden of AMR and the benefits of research[3].
To fulfil such objectives, several working groups within the JPIAMR have been created to focus on specific tasks. DIAGORAS is part of the working group on Antimicrobial resistance Rapid Diagnostic Tests (AMR-RDT).
What is the aim of the working group on Antimicrobial resistance Rapid Diagnostic Tests?
AMR-RDT brings together an unprecedented consortium of over 50 leading individuals and organisations in the field of diagnostics and AMR and relevant disciplines from 15 countries. The partners will identify barriers to development, implementation and use of rapid diagnostics and propose a roadmap to future solutions.
Given the scale of the task, available budget and given time frame, AMR-RDT will have its focus on human healthcare in Europe but puts great emphasis on Global Health and One Health aspects. Members of AMR-RDT will produce a Diagnostics Knowledge Base to inform the research and user community, funding bodies and policy makers.
Among our consortium, the DIAGORAS partners that joined the JPI AMR-RDT and will hold some strategic roles:
- Erasmus MC is Head of the Task Group “Behavioural Change”.
- Hahn-Schickard provides feedback to the Task Groups from the perspective of Diagnostics Innovator, and towards the development of roadmap for Target Product Profile (TPP) composition.
Contact information to the JPIAMR:
- Dr. John HAYS
- Dr. Konstantinos MITSAKAKIS
More information on the Working Group: http://www.ed.ac.uk/pathway-medicine/antimicrobial-resistance/jpiamr-amrrdt
[1] Review on Antimicrobial resistance, December 2014
[2] http://www.jpiamr.eu/about/what-is-jp/
[3] http://www.jpiamr.eu/about/aims-objectivesexpected-outcomes/