Pfizer is working with Wellcome to help tackle the growing public health crisis of antimicrobial resistance (AMR)

As part of our longstanding history of fighting infectious diseases and reducing health disparities for people around the world, Pfizer announced a partnership with Wellcome, an independent foundation, to help tackle the growing public health crisis of AMR.

Countries in sub-Saharan Africa and other low- and middle-income countries already have a high burden of infectious diseases, and experts anticipate they will be disproportionately affected by AMR.

Surveillance is a vital tool for clinicians and public health officials to slow the rise of AMR. However, as recently as 2017, nearly half of the countries in Africa didn’t have comprehensive local data on AMR.² These challenges make it difficult for countries to implement infection control programs and inform the appropriate use of anti-infectives.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

To address these issues, Pfizer and Wellcome launched Surveillance Partnership to Improve Data for Action on Antimicrobial Resistance (SPIDAAR), a public-private research collaborative with governments and health authorities in four countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

This program brings together resources and expertise of industry, international non-governmental organizations and governments to support improved AMR surveillance and access to actionable data. Program data will be made available on Pfizer’s open-source ATLAS database, as well as on Wellcome’s AMR Register. Created more than 15 years ago, ATLAS is the only industry-led, public access platform that includes both antifungal and antibiotic resistance data.​​​​​​​

The first stage of the collaboration began in July 2019, with Pfizer and Wellcome working with government teams to identify health facilities in Ghana, Kenya, Malawi and Uganda. The next phase will initiate a surveillance program at select hospitals in these countries, where clinical isolates will be collected from infected hospitalized patients and tested for antimicrobial susceptibility.