Day 1

Introductory remarks

Professor Laura JV Piddock, Scientific Director, GARDP

Session 1 – Keynote presentation

Chair: Professor Laura JV Piddock, Scientific Director, GARDP

  • Is antimicrobial discovery responding to current needs? How do we move from here?
    • Dr Mirfin Mpundu, Director, ReAct Africa

Session 2 – Drug discovery – new targets and new chemistry

Chair: Dr Keith Miller, Senior Lecturer in Medical Microbiology, Sheffield Hallam University

  • Antiviral drug discovery: preparing for the next pandemic
  • Awakening sleeping antibiotics
  • Bioinformatics as a tool to identify and synthesise of new antibiotics
    • Dr César de la Fuente, Presidential Assistant Professor, University of Pennsylvania

Session 3 – Preclinical antimicrobial development

Chair: Dr Christopher Longshaw, Senior Director, EU Scientific Affairs, Shionogi BV & BSAC Honorary Treasurer

  • Recent developments in PK-PD
    • Professor Lena Friberg, Professor of Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics at the Department of Pharmacy, Uppsala University, Sweden
  • Challenges of discovery of new antibiotics
    • Dr Ursula Theuretzbacher, Center for Anti-Infective Agents, Vienna
  • Discovery and pre-clinical development of new antimicrobials in Africa
    • Dr Greg Basarab, H3D – University of Cape Town

Session 4 – Panel discussion 

Chair: Dr Ursula Theuretzbacher, Center for Anti-Infective Agents, Vienna

  • Development of non-traditional antimicrobials
    • Dr Peter Jackson, Executive Director, INFEX Therapeutics Ltd
    • Dr Richard Alm, Chief Scientist, CARB-X
    • Dr Nagasuma Chandra, PhD Professor Department of Biochemistry Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India

Day one closing remarks

Dr Christopher Longshaw, Senior Director, EU Scientific Affairs, Shionogi BV & BSAC Honorary Treasurer

Day 2

Introductory remarks

Dr Christopher Longshaw, EU Scientific Advisor, Shionogi & BSAC Honorary Treasurer

Session 5 – Clinical Development and Use of New agents

Chair: Alison Luckey, GARDP

  • Zoliflodacin Phase 3 study
    • Professor Sinead Delany-Moretlwe, Director: Research, Wits RHI & Professor of Global Health & Infectious Diseases, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
  • Clinical trials in countries with a high burden of drug resistance
    • Dr Ashima Bhatia, MD – Chief Clinical Officer & Head, Global Clinical Development, Wockhardt
    • Dr Manish Shah, VP, Global Clinical Development, Wockhardt
  • Compassionate use of Cefiderocol to treat documented XDR-AB infections at the intensive care unit
    • Professor Federico Pea, Full Professor of Pharmacology, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, Italy

Session 6 – Oral Poster Presentations

Chair: Dr Mirfin Mpundu, Director, ReAct Africa

  • Association of meropenem with ethambutol enhances the exposure of Mycobacterium tuberculosis peptidoglycan and promotes its synergistic killing
    • Mr Francisco Olivença, PhD Candidate, Research Institute for Medicines (iMed.ULisboa), Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
  • Assessment of availability of essential antimicrobial agents in north India
    • Dr Rachna Rohilla, Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology, AIIMS Bathinda
  • The SA-UK Antimicrobial Drug Discovery Hub: Harnessing the potential of natural products as antimicrobial lead compounds
    • Miss Roxanne Leigh Higgitt, Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rhodes University, Makhanda, South Africa
  • Interplay Between Clinical Stringent Response-Activating Mutations, Antibiotic Tolerance and Bacterial Fitness
    • Dr Joanne Hobbs, Research Associate & Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry & Microbiology, University of Victoria, Canada
  • Infection control of Healthcare-associated infections in Ukraine
    • Dr Yulian Konechnyi, National Medical University, Lviv, Ukraine

Session 7 – National action plan progress/policy

Chair: Dr Yewande Alimi, Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Program Coordinator, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention & co-lead for the Africa Union Task force on AMR

  • Development of the National Policy and Action Plan and accompanying strategies for Antimicrobial Resistance in Kenya
    • Dr Evelyn Wesangula, Senior AMR Control Specialist, East Central and Southern Africa Health Community (ECSA- HC)
  • MAAP DATA
    • Dr Pascale Ondoa, Director of Science & New Initiatives, African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM)
  • Widening access to antibiotics in LMICs
    • Professor Samuel Kariuki, Chief Research Scientist and Director, Research and Development, Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), Kenya

Session 8 – Panel discussion: 

Chair: Dr Valeria Gigante, Team Lead, One Health Research Priority-setting and Synergy in AMR, WHO

  • Regulatory paths for new treatment modalities
    • Dr Markus Zeitlinger, University of Vienna
    • Dr Mimi Yen, Phage Pro
    • Dr Joe Campbell, National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)

Closing remarks

Professor Laura JV Piddock, Scientific Director, GARDP