On 21 December 2022 the RaDAR Consortium of partners organised a webinar on “Data-driven approaches to strengthen antimicrobial resistance (AMR) management & prevention”. AMR is a major health threat worldwide, with annual deaths resulting from antimicrobial-resistant infections estimated to reach up to 10 million a year in 2050. The purpose of the event was to discuss with a broader community the challenges faced at different levels (international, national, regional, local), develop common solutions to effectively address AMR, and share good practices that could inspire action to be implemented throughout the EU.
Dr. Maddalena Illario, endocrinologist and Associate Professor at the Department of Public Health of the University of Naples Federico II, and John Farrell, Director of the Reference Site Collaborative Network-RSCN, opened the event and introduced the speakers.
First up was Dr. Silvia Bertagnolio, Unit head of the Control and Response Strategies Unit at the World Health Organization. Dr. Bertagnolio explained the importance of a globalised clinical platform to better understand the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on AMR prevention, detection, and management (recording).
Samira Boussetta, Policy Officer at DG GROW of the European Commission, pointed out the innovation challenges that hospitals are facing and how public procurement can help in addressing these gaps. Likewise, building partnerships and sharing risks can promote collaborative efforts and projects between different stakeholders involved in tackling AMR in the EU and worldwide. In this regard, the European Commission has developed a short guide on how to conduct successful partnerships through digital public platforms of buyers (recording and presentation).
Jose Arroyo Nieto, Policy Officer at the AMR Patient Group of Health First Europe, closed the first round of presentations by highlighting the widespread lack of awareness on the consequences of misusing antibiotics. In light of this, patient organisations should renew their efforts to ensure that more is done to better communicate said risks to all potential and current users (recording and presentation).
The webinar then developed in a roundtable discussion, moderated by Value-based Procurement Director at AQuAS Rossana Alessandrello, on other key aspects of data-driven approaches to improve AMR management.
Prof. Marie Cecile Ploy, Professor of Microbiology at CHU Limoges, presented challenges, impacts, and results of the EU-Joint Action on Antimicrobial Resistance (JAMRAI) project, while stressing the importance of data collection to improve communication on AMR (recording and presentation).
Ana Alvarez, Project Manager at Catalan Institute of Oncology underlined the importance of having common and shared information at epidemiological level to map out potential deficiencies and synergies in public health management. Building on this, Dr. Gernot Marx, Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine and Director of the Department of Surgical Intensive Care Medicine and Intermediate Care at the University Hospital RWTH in Aachen, Francesco Tessarolo, Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Department of Industrial Engineering University of Trento, discussed the role of technology and digitalisation. According to them, these are crucial for hospital structures when it comes to setting innovative standards for users and researchers during clinical tests. Moreover, both speakers explained how digitalisation tools aim to create a shared knowledge between health structures and countries (recording).
Finally, Ion Arrizabalaga, RaDAR Project Coordinator at AQuAS, and Olman Elizondo, Innovation Project Manager at AQuAS, introduced the RaDAR project and the crucial elements of innovative public procurement of innovation (PPI) to improve AMR management. Indeed, the four hospitals involved in the project as buyers have identified an unmet need for AMR rapid detection and control systems (recording and presentation).
The Consortium is now entering a phase of dialogue with the market, setting out the unmet needs and preliminary clinical demands in a Market Sounding Prospectus (MSP). At the end of 2023 the buyers will launch tenders for innovative solutions to address the AMR challenge. In order to progress to tender in the most effective way, the Consortium wants to understand the market’s ability to respond and also how the buyers can facilitate supply chain innovation to deliver what is needed. All parts of the supply chain are therefore invited to read the Market Sounding Prospectus and fill out the Market Response Form to enable the buyers group to refine their clinical demand specification and inform the collaborative tender specification and strategy. The market sounding will be followed by a series of Open Market Consultation workshops, which will be held both in person and online. You can register for the events and express interest for bi-lateral meetings between buyers and potential suppliers via the Market Response Form.
Thank you from the RaDAR Consortium to everyone who attended the webinar, which you can watch again here. Heartfelt thanks also to the speakers for their insightful contributions, we look forward to continuing collaborating and exchanging ideas!
