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Researchers at at an Australian university have developed a new form of antibiotic that can be swiftly re-engineered to avoid resistance to dangerous superbugs. The antibiotic, which was developed by PhD candidate Priscila Cardoso and major supervisor Dr Celine Valery from RMIT's School of Health and Biosciences, has a basic architecture that allows it to be generated quickly and cheaply in a lab. The antibiotic, Priscilicidin, has tiny amino acid building blocks that allow it to be tailored to combat various types of antimicrobial resistance. With the World Health Organization calling antimicrobial resistance "one of the top ten global public health threats facing humanity", developing new antibiotics has become more urgent than ever. Professor Charlotte Conn, one of Cardoso's PhD supervisors, said given that urgency, Priscilicidin was an exciting breakthrough for public health. Priscilicidin is a type of antimicrobial peptide. These peptides are produced by all living organisms as the first defence against bacteria and viruses.

Two new medications which fight drug-resistant superbugs could soon become available to NHS patients in England after the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) said they offered value for money. NICE said Cefiderocol and ceftazidime-avibactam will be the first antimicrobial drugs to be made available as part of a subscription-style payment model that incentivises research and development of antimicrobials by testing new approaches to evaluating and paying for them. As part of part of a project with the NHS and the Department of Health and Social Care, the new payment model is designed to address the growing threat posed by antimicrobial resistance - a serious global problem - which develops when the pathogens that cause infection evolve to make antibiotics and other antimicrobial drugs less effective or stop them from working altogether.

The government has launched the Global AMR Innovation Fund (GAMRIF) on Monday (22 May), under which it has announce up to £39 million fund for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) research. Of this new funding package, up to £24 million over four years has been awarded to bolster the UK's partnership with CARB-X - a global AMR research initiative - to support the continued early development of invaluable new antibiotics, vaccines, rapid diagnostics and other products to combat life threatening drug-resistant infections and prevent death and disease across the world. In addition to the CARB-X grant, GAMRIF is investing £5 million over two years into the Global Antibiotic R&D Partnership (GARDP) to develop - and ensure global access to - new antibiotic treatments against major global health priorities. The announcement comes as Health Minister Will Quince attends the World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva, Switzerland, and Development Minister Andrew Mitchell participates in an event on health leadership and climate change alongside the WHA. They will announce the launch of the UK government's Global Health Framework for 2023-2025, as part of Minister Quince's address at the WHA. Health Minister Will Quince said: Antimicrobial resistance is a major threat to global health and has led to millions of tragic deaths per year, but the Global AMR Innovation Fund is supporting cutting-edge research and developing vital new treatments to prevent death and disease across the world.

The NHS has signed the first-of-its-kind subscription deal for two antimicrobial drugs - cefiderocol and ceftazidime-avibactam, manufactured by Shionogi and Pfizer respectively - that will help around 1700 patients per year with severe bacterial infections. Under this deal, pharmaceutical firms will receive a fixed yearly fee - capped at a level that represents value to taxpayers - in order to incentivise funding for innovation that can generate a pipeline of new antibiotics for NHS patients. NHS said the deal will help patients with serious infections that have evolved so much that antibiotics and other current treatments are no longer effective can be given a potentially life-saving alternative. The drugs will provide a lifeline to patients with life-threatening infections like sepsis, hospital or ventilator pneumonia and blood stream infection. Announcing the deal at NHS ConfedExpo, NHS Chief Executive Amanda Pritchard called the revolutionary subscription deal a game-changer and the latest NHS success in using its commercial power to benefit NHS patients in line with the NHS Long Term Plan. "Superbug-busting drugs on the NHS will save lives and strike a blow in the global battle against antimicrobial resistance," Pritchard said.

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) has welcomed the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence's leadership in introducing a new approach to the evaluation of antibiotics. On Tuesday (12 April), NICE published a draft guidance to tackle antimicrobial resistance under which two new antimicrobial drugs - cefiderocol and ceftazidime-avibactam - became the first to be made available as part of the UK's innovative subscription-style payment model. Commenting on the announcement of the new draft guidance, Richard Torbett, chief executive of the ABPI, said: "This is an important milestone in the UK's global leadership on AMR. Antibiotics underpin modern medicine, but the increasing threat of antibiotic resistance remains one of the biggest global health challenges we face. "To tackle this, it is critical that the appropriate frameworks are in place for companies to invest the billions of pounds required to discover the new antibiotics needed for patients.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has published the latest national surveillance data on antibiotic prescribing and resistance. The English surveillance programme for antimicrobial utilisation and resistance (ESPAUR) report showed an increase in antibiotic use in all settings (apart from dental) in 2022. According to the report, antibiotic prescribing rose by 8.4 per cent in 2022 compared with 2021, although the number remains below 2019 pre-pandemic levels. "There are many reasons behind the increase in prescribing, one of which is likely related to decreased immunity and exposure to infections during the COVID-19 pandemic that may have underpinned the increased transmission in co-circulating infections, namely: influenza (flu), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and group A streptococcus (GAS)," the report stated.

The NHS has launched plans to expand pioneering subscription-style drug contracts to develop lifesaving antibiotics of the future. It is building on its world-first pilot to incentivise the pharmaceutical industry to develop new antibiotics that could be offered to NHS patients when they need them the most. The consultation has launched almost a year to the day that contracts for two superbug-busting drugs were rolled out as part of a world-first pilot. Cefiderocol and ceftazidime-avibactam, new antibiotics manufactured by Shionogi and Pfizer respectively, were awarded world-first subscription contracts which provided the companies with a fixed annual fee based primarily on the availability of the drugs and their value to the NHS, as opposed to the volumes used. By breaking the link between the payments companies receive and the number of their antibiotics prescribed, the NHS is removing any incentive to overuse antibiotics, decreasing the risk of life-threatening infections, such as sepsis and pneumonia, becoming resistant to treatment.

The current structure of global incentives to develop new antibiotics is insufficient and requires urgent resolution revealed a new report 'Incentivising new antibiotics' by the Office of Health Economics (OHE). OHE analysis demonstrates that on a global level, it is estimated that an effective 10-year incentive would require £3.5bn ($4.2bn) to adequately cover the entire research and development process for a new antibiotic. The report considers how health systems in the UK and around the world can stimulate the research and development (R&D) of new antibiotics. In 2020, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and NHS England initiated an Antimicrobial Resistance pilot with the aim of incentivising pharmaceutical companies to develop new antibiotics by addressing the issues associated with reimbursement, which historically has deterred companies from pursuing AMR research.

Researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) have been tasked to evaluate the impact, safety and effectiveness of the Pharmacy First service, which was launched across England in January 2024. They have been awarded £2.4million by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) to generate evidence on the new service that allows pharmacies to provide advice and treatment for seven common conditions without the need for a GP appointment. After consultation, if necessary, a community pharmacist can supply some prescription-only medicines to treat earache, sore throat, sinusitis, impetigo, shingles, infected insect bites or uncomplicated urinary tract infections in women. The LSHTM researcher team will be working together with experts at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the Universities of Oxford, Manchester and Nottingham on the project. Dr Rebecca Glover, assistant professor in Antimicrobial Resistance at LSHTM, who will lead the three-year project, said they will evaluate "Pharmacy First's impact on GPs and the wider NHS, pharmacy services and patients."

The UK Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has signed a new US$10 million (7.8 million pounds) grant agreement with global non-profit organisation, FIND. This extends the UK government's support to FIND through the Global AMR Innovation Fund (GAMRIF) for another four years. FIND recently announced the GAMRIF funding, which will be used to support its three-pronged strategy to prevent AMR emergence and halt its development. Dr Cassandra Kelly-Cirino, Vice President, Health Programmes at FIND, said: "Lack of essential diagnostics that can be accessed by people when and where they are needed is jeopardizing global efforts to combat AMR everywhere. We are grateful to GAMRIF for the continued support as we work in partnership on this multi-faceted strategy to save lives."