Since their development, antibiotics have transformed health care and saved countless lives globally. But rising levels of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) make current antibiotics less effective. There’s no single or simple solution to the complex problem of AMR, but we’re committed to investing our expertise and resources alongside our partners to get much-needed antibiotics to those who need them most. Lives are at risk, and the time to act is now.

True to MSD’s longstanding tradition of preventing and treating infectious diseases, we’re proud to commit to invest $100 million over 10 years in the new AMR Action Fund. Through this groundbreaking partnership of leading pharmaceutical companies, philanthropies, development banks and multilateral organizations, we aim to bridge the gap between the innovative early antibiotic pipeline and patients. New antibiotics are urgently needed. With this new fund for antibiotic research and development, our collective aim is to bring two to four new antibiotics to patients and physicians by the end of the decade.

The concept of the AMR Action Fund has been developed in collaboration with the World Health Organization, the European Investment Bank, and the Wellcome Trust. It aims to overcome key technical and funding barriers of late-stage antibiotic development and will work with governments to ensure there is a sustainable pipeline of new antibiotics to fight superbugs.