A report commissioned by the Wellcome Trust and produced by the Boston Consulting Group has been published which assesses the opportunities and challenges for developing vaccines to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
Report 'Vaccines to tackle drug resistant infections. An evaluation of R&D opportunities’
A report commissioned by the Wellcome Trust and produced by the Boston Consulting Group has been published which assesses the opportunities and challenges for developing vaccines to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
A total of 18 pathogens were evaluated for the potential health impact of a vaccine against them, the probability of R&D success and the likelihood of vaccine uptake, using a carefully considered prioritisation framework. The report was produced using expert interviews as well as information from databases and from the literature.
The report contains information on the global mortality and morbidity associated with each pathogen, the urgency and impact of AMR on these pathogens, the state of the pipeline for vaccine development, the ease of pre-clinical and clinical trials, the expected policy stance for a vaccine, and the likelihood of payer, government and Gavi support.
The report also makes recommendations both on the specific pathogens analysed and cross-cutting activities that would drive vaccine development and uptake across the each of the pathogens in scope.
The BactiVac Network welcomes the publishing of this timely report which contextualises the current state of play within the bacterial vaccine landscape. The report advocates the need to develop effective vaccines against key bacterial pathogens, many of which are of relevance to low to middle income countries (LMICs), which is a strong focus of the BactiVac Network. The report will also help to inform disease prioritisation and where to focus our resources, such as our catalyst funding for pump-priming projects.
The BactiVac Network, which is supported by the GCRF Networks in Vaccines Research and Development (co-funded by the Medical Research Council and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council), has the aim of accelerating the development of bacterial vaccines that are of relevance to low to middle income countries. It also covers UK health priorities following further investment from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.
