AMR-Global: Reducing inappropriate exposure to antibiotics
AMR-Global is a Netherlands-based public-private partnership (PPP) that brings together science, business, and policy experts to develop affordable solutions to curb antimicrobial resistance (AMR) globally. GLORIA is it’s ambitious research programme to develop interventions to prevent inappropriate exposures to antibiotics and thereby prevent AMR. GLORIA has two research arms: the first, ROTA-biotic, tests the impact of vaccination on antibiotic usage and AMR in infants, and is led by the AIGHD and AUMC; the second, BIOBAC, develops point-of-care-biomarkers to distinguish viral from bacterial infections and is led by Levels Diagnostics.
AMR is an urgent global health problem. Drug-resistant microorganisms already account for an estimated 700,000 deaths a year globally, this could rapidly increase to 10 million deaths each year by 2050 if no action is taken. Low-middle income countries are disproportionately burdened by AMR, with heavier costs, infections, and deaths. Our worldwide vulnerability to infectious diseases means global strategies for AMR are needed. The Netherlands, a frontrunner in the fight against AMR, has an important role to play.
GLORIA meets this challenge by tackling inappropriate antibiotic usage, the most important driver of AMR. Viral infections are often mistakenly treated with antibiotics. ROTA-biotic targets rotavirus, the most common cause of severe infant diarrhea, to test if rotavirus vaccines protect infants in Ghana from diarrhea, unnecessary antibiotics, and AMR in their gut (microbiome). BIOBAC targets clinics. BIOBAC uses lateral-flow technology and proteomics to develop a cheap, easy-to-use test to help clinicians distinguish viral from bacterial infections, ensuring antibiotics are only given for bacterial infections.
GLORIA’s results will be two-fold: exact data for policy-makers on how vaccines impact infants’ antibiotic consumption and microbiome and an affordable, usable test to reliably discriminate viral from bacterial infections. Together these innovations will help reduce human antibiotic exposures and combat AMR now and in the future.
