Latest LEAD updates
What partnerships are needed to ramp up the development of low-cost antimicrobial drugs?
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a critical global public health threat and developmental threat of our times. In 2019, WHO estimates that bacterial AMR was directly responsible for 1.27 million global deaths and contributed to 4.95 million deaths, with the burden falling hardest on low- and middle-income countries. Yet progress in developing new anti-microbials has been dangerously slow as there is a lack of incentives for pharmaceuticals due to lack of profit. There is currently an alarmingly small and insufficient portfolio of promising drugs for antimicrobial resistance and WHO describes the situation as a “dual crisis” of scarcity and lack of innovation in the R&D pipeline.
As resistance continues to outpace innovation, AMR exposes a fundamental market failure with global consequences.
In this presentation on 28 January 2026 at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), UK, LEAD core team member and IDS Research Fellow, Professor Gerry Bloom, highlights that addressing it will require not just scientific breakthroughs, but it demands new forms of collaboration across governments, industry, funders and civil society. This is a global issue, and it needs global collaboration.
Watch the presentation on YouTubeLink opens in a new window.