This is the latest episode of the free DDW Narrated Podcast. The episode covers two articles written for DDW Volume 25, Issue 2, Spring 2024.<br>The first article is called &#x27;Why more work is needed to fight antimicrobial resistance&#x27;. In the article, DDW Editor Reece Armstrong speaks to Professor Janet Hemingway CBE about current efforts in tackling antimicrobial resistance.<br>The second article is called &#x27;The future outlook for mRNA therapies&#x27;. In the piece, Reece Armstrong explores the potential opportunities for mRNA-based therapies.<br>You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.

How drug discovery is tackling global health challenges

The Drug Discovery World Podcast

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** The Drug Discovery World Podcast

## Transcript

Hello and welcome to the DDW Podcast, a podcast covering topics around drug discovery and development, pharma and biotech. I'm Bruno Quinney and I'm part of the content team here at DDW. You'll be joining me for today's episode. Today's instalment is called How Drug Discovery is Tackling Global Health Challenges. We'll be covering two articles written for DDW Volume 25, Issue 2, Spring 2024.

The first article is called Why More Work Is Needed To Fight Antimicrobial Resistance. In the article, DDW Editor Reece Armstrong speaks to Professor Janet Hemingway about current efforts in tackling antimicrobial resistance. The second article is called The Future Outlook For mRNA Therapies. In the piece, Reece Armstrong explores the potential opportunities for mRNA-based therapies.

This is the DDW Podcast. Why More Work Is Needed To Fight Antimicrobial Resistance The threat of AMR has been well documented in recent years. Perhaps the most notable effort came from the 2014 report, The Review on Antimicrobial Resistance,

which was chaired by Lord Jim O'Neill and which outlined stark figures on the threat of AMR. Most notably that by 2050, debts attributable to AMR will rise to 10 million per year and that the economic burden of AMR will reach 100 trillion dollars by 2050. Add to this that the rise of AMR can bring about what the report calls a return to

the dark age of medicine, where surgeries, cancer treatments, even childbirths, become staggeringly more dangerous when there's a lack of effective antibodies and it's easy to understand why there's such reason for concern. Since then, the issue hasn't gone away and these stark figures are brought up time and time again when arguments are made for more investment into the AMR sector.

Professor Hemingway agrees that whilst the conversation surrounding AMR has largely remained focused on the same points, it's part of those within the sector's job to keep it on the agenda. As the founding director of ICON Infection Innovation Consortium, CEO of Eye Diagnostics and Professor of Tropical Medicine at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Professor Hemingway is very much a key figure in the space

and as a key figure, she understands that with drug discovery being such a contested field, both in terms of attracting funding and drawing the attention of government, making AMR a topic on everyone's agendas is challenging. There will never be enough money to cover what you could do in this very broad health space, she explains, but if we don't tackle this particular issue, it has ramifications right across the system.

ICON specifically is a major advocate for work tackling AMR. It was founded in 2020 to connect industry, academia and the NHS and help discover and develop new treatments, including diagnostics, vaccines and preventative products for infective diseases. It's doing this by collaborating with companies and providing ac...

How drug discovery is tackling global health challenges

Transcript

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How drug discovery is tackling global health challenges

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.