Initiative To Find New Antibiotics Launched At WHA

A new initiative seeking to develop new antibiotic treatments is being launched today at the annual World Health Assembly. The Global Antibiotic Research and Development (GARD) is a partnership between the World Health Organization and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi).

The partnership has secured the necessary seed funding to build its scientific strategy, initial research and development (R&D) portfolio, and start-up team, according to a DNDi release.

At the launch of the GARD Partnership on the occasion of the 69^th World Health Assembly in Geneva, DNDi is announcing that it secured commitments for GARD from four governments – the Federal Ministry of Health of Germany, the Netherlands’ Ministry of Health Welfare and Sports, the South African Medical Research Council, and the United Kingdom Department for International Development – as well as from the medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières, totalling over EUR 2 million for the incubation phase of two years, according to the release.

Manica Balasegaram joins GARD after serving four years as Executive Director with the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF – Doctors Without Borders) Access Campaign, DNDi said. He will take up his position formally in June 2016.