Projects and actions supported

On August 5, 2021, the call for projects "Antibiotic resistance: understand, innovate, act" was launched by the French National Research Agency (Agence nationale de la recherche, ANR), funded with €25M. It was the first milestone of the Priority Research Programme (Programme prioritaire de recherche, PPR) on Antibiotic Resistance. Eleven projects have been selected. In France, multi drug resistance to antibiotics is a major public health concern. In order to counter it, the Government, through the General Secretariat for Investment (Sécretariat général pour l’nvestissement, SGPI), has set up a Priority Research Program on antibiotic resistance coordinated by Inserm, with a budget of €40 million over 10 years.

These research projects are part of a "One Health" approach (a global approach advocated by the WHO - World Health Organization - and the OIE - World Organisation for Animal Health) which does not dissociate Man from his environment (animals, food, soil, water, etc.).  Projects  had to be ambitious, structuring and long-term (3 to 6 years), promoting interdisciplinarity and aiming at developing synergy based on a continuum ranging from fundamental research to clinical, veterinary and environmental applications, in social sciences and in public policy.
On 01 October 2020, three calls for structuring tools were launched by the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research (Inserm), coordinator of the Priority Research Programme (Programme Prioritaire de Recherche, PPR) on Antimicrobial resistance, financed with a €40 million budget by the Government. These calls represent the second action of the PPR on Antimicrobial Resistance and complement the call for research projects "Antibiotic resistance: understand, innovate, act", funding projects since February 2021.

In response to each call for proposals, identified by Inserm and its partners, national consultation meetings were organised by the PPR directorate. These led to the development of consortia aiming to structure research on antimicrobial resistance in mainland France and in the French overseas departments and territories, with a One Health approach. These consortia gather all disciplines ranging from fundamental to clinical research in the three sectors of human, animal, and environmental health, and include social sciences and banks of digital, mathematical and (bio)informatic tool.

The three selected projects:  ABRomics-PFPROMISE et DOSA were evaluated by an international jury and are funded with a total budget of € 4M.
Within the framework of the Priority Research Programme (Programme prioritaire de recherche, PPR) on Antibiotic Resistance, a budget of €1.5M was allocated to the structuring and coordination of an Antibiotic Resistance network in partnership with low and middle income countries, the AMR-Sud network. This network aims to federate local and French forces in order to develop research and to facilitate applications to joint research project calls.

The collaborative work of the AMR-Sud network led to the development of two complementary research projects, which will be carried out in Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Côte d’Ivoire and Madagascar.

While one project focuses on the transmission factors of antibiotic resistance in various habitats and environments (CircUs),  the other focuses on the economic and social factors of antibiotic resistance (RAMSES).

The rationale behind these projects is the quick set up of feasibility studies which could leverage further funding of ambitious research projects developed within the AMR-Sud network.

The CircUs and RAMSES projects were evaluated by a committee of international experts and were granted a total funding of € 1M.

A summary of the two projects and their intersection points is presented below.