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Annual Report 2021: The Global AMR R&D Funding Landscape
The Global AMR R&D Hub’s Dynamic Dashboard – a platform that continuously collects and presents information on global investments in AMR R&D – now in its second year − provides a global snapshot of the AMR R&D activities across the full One Health spectrum, offering an evidence base to foster global priority setting and decision making on the allocation of resources.
- The report comprises analysis of more than 12,000 projects worth 8.91 billion US dollars
- Data collected covers 214 funders from 46 countries (plus the European Union) who fund research organisations across 6 continents
- For the first time the full One Health spectrum is represented, with projects covering human, animal, plant and environment health
Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) continues to be a major global health challenge with impacts across the full One Health spectrum – human, animal, plant and environment. Tackling the multi-faceted challenge of AMR requires a concerted global effort to fill gaps in the current knowledge and evidence base, to maximise existing resources and identify the most appropriate areas for further investment.
In this second Annual Analysis of the Dynamic Dashboard data − the first to include projects from all One Health sectors (& human fungal pathogens) – we aimed to provide a consolidated overview of the global AMR R&D funding landscape as at 1st September 2021. In doing so, we detail what type of AMR R&D research is being conducted by whom and where, in order to identify gaps, opportunities, overlaps and potential for cross-sectoral collaboration.
KEY FINDINGS
Global funding for AMR R&D remains in an upward trajectory.
In terms of AMR R&D funding, year-on-year growth in investments are visible with an increase in public and philanthropic investment in AMR R&D between 2017 and 2019, from 1.65 billion USD in 2017 to 1.8 billion USD in 2019. As a more complete dataset emerges for 2020 and 2021, the impact of Covid-19 on AMR R&D funding will be evaluated more thoroughly.
Funding for Human health dominates the AMR R&D landscape.
The current analysis highlights the enduring emphasis of AMR R&D funding on human health, with more than 84% of funding captured by projects solely focused on this sector (7.4 billion USD) − over half of this funding (58%, 4.4 billion USD) targets priority bacterial pathogens.
Across all sectors, Basic Research, Therapeutics and Operational R&D represent the top 3 research areas in terms of investment.
Taken collectively, the top 3 research areas in terms of funding volume across all sectors are Basic Research, Therapeutics and Operational R&D. When viewed as a collective ‘product-relevant’ R&D also gains significant support in terms of investments (41% of total funding volume); however, funding gaps are apparent, for example, investments in R&D for Diagnostics and Vaccines are approximately two thirds lower than for Therapeutics.
Evaluation of cross-sectoral AMR R&D is now possible.
Due to the inclusion of all 4 One Health sectors (albeit with limited projects numbers in both the plant and environmental health sectors - 3% of funding), we are able, for the first time, to provide an initial evaluation of funding for cross-sectoral projects – showing that 6% of funding for AMR R&D targets projects that span more than ‘One Health’ sector – with the emphasis on Operational and Capacity Building R&D within these multi-sector projects.
A key focus for animal health AMR R&D is livestock.
Farmed animals remain a key focus for animal health AMR R&D, with livestock-associated projects accounting for close to half (41%, 309 million USD) of the funding directed towards the animal health sector (757 million USD). Operational research is a major focus in animal health R&D. In the context of product-related research, the emphasis is placed on Vaccines and Diagnostics. This research area comprises close to half (41%, 309 million USD) of all funding in this sector.
Despite a limited number of projects, nascent trends are emerging in plant and environmental health AMR R&D.
Within the plant health sector, a strong focus is placed on Prevention AMR R&D, whereas Operational and cross-sectoral R&D are emphasised in the environmental health sector.
There are 104 products in the antibacterial clinical pipeline targeting priority pathogens.
The collated information from the WHO and PEW analyses, highlights a pipeline dominated by products still in the early stages of clinical development (Phase 1 or 2), with less than a quarter of products attaining innovative status (according to the WHO classification).
Support to overcome some of the economic challenges in therapeutic markets following approval shows that the landscape remains ad hoc, small-scale and initiated by just a few countries globally.
The Incentives Gallery displays the activities and measures implemented globally occurring along the value chain that try to support the therapeutic development ecosystem and mitigate some of the well-known challenges hindering the development, uptake and distribution of new agents that are urgently needed.
About the Global AMR R&D Hub
The Global AMR R&D Hub emerged from discussions from G20 meeting in 2018 and was operationalised in early 2019. The Hub is a knowledge centre for AMR and acts as a catalyst in the advocacy efforts for AMR globally through generation of knowledge and data that informs policy decisions at the highest levels. Our Board consists of representatives of 17 countries, the European Commission and global philanthropic organisations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust. We also have WHO, FAO, OIE and OECD as observers. The Hub is also connected to a wider network of Stakeholders, drawn from multiple focus areas, globally who are invested in the field of AMR. The Hub plays a co-ordinating role to drive positive policy change in the AMR arena.
For more information, contact:
Dr. Satya Dash (Head of Secretariat)
Email: globalamrhub@dzif.de
Download the report here.
