In response to heightened concerns over antibiotic resistance, two dozen of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies have formally launched a $1 billion for-profit venture fund to replenish the global medicine chest with novel treatments.
The new Antimicrobial Action Fund will look to buy or invest in small antibiotic companies and their products, and will work with the World Health Organization and the European Investment Bank to identify promising prospects. The fund is expected to start operations by the end of the year and hopes to bring to market at least two to four novel antibiotics by 2030.
“There is no viable market today for antibiotics and the pipeline is near collapse,” said Eli Lilly chief executive officer David Ricks at a briefing Thursday to announce the initiative, plans for which were first reported by STAT earlier this month. Among the other companies investing in the fund are Merck, Pfizer, Amgen, Novo Nordisk, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, Roche, Bayer, Daiichi-Sankyo, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Lundbeck, Eisai, and Merck KGaA.
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