The Antibacterial Resistance Leadership Group (ARLG), the European Clinical Research Alliance on Infectious Diseases (Ecraid), and ADVANcing Clinical Evidence in Infectious Diseases (ADVANCE-ID) Network have joined forces to create a global alliance against antibacterial resistance.
The strength of this collaboration stems from the common goal of tackling the antibacterial resistance crisis worldwide with ARLG focused in North, Central, and South America, Ecraid in Europe, and ADVANCE-ID in Asia Pacific. The three groups have formed a flexible and adaptive partnership that streamlines communication, coordinates efforts, and shares knowledge and resources to facilitate infectious disease clinical research.
This exciting collaboration involves extensive cross-entity engagement, including visits to each other's facilities, establishing working groups spanning various functional areas, and harmonizing standard operating procedures, processes, and guidelines. Regular communication and exchange of expertise are key pillars of this partnership, which will facilitate joint design and conduct of international clinical research studies, data sharing, protocol exchanges, and collaborative training and education initiatives.
Furthermore, the partnership delineates a consultative framework for each network's geographical areas of influence. ARLG, Ecraid, and ADVANCE-ID commit to consulting one another before initiating clinical research networks or studies within each other's global regions. Additionally, specific rights of refusal are granted to each network for leading or coordinating studies initiated by the others within certain regions, ensuring equitable distribution of leadership responsibilities.
The ARLG was established in 2013 and is funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, through Duke University under Award Number UM1AI104681. The goal of ARLG is “to prioritize, design, and execute clinical research that will impact the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria.” The ARLG is facilitated by the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI) and comprises more than 165 leading experts and a network of 150 clinical sites in 17 countries working together to combat the antibacterial resistance crisis and improve patient care. The ARLG’s role in the U.S. antibiotic resistance (AR) strategy is fulfilled by “prioritizing and accelerating research to support innovation and inform clinical practice and by recruiting and training the next generation of infectious diseases physician–scientists specializing in AR research.”
Ecraid is Europe’s premier clinical research network for infectious diseases. It offers private and public health initiatives access to key academic opinion leaders and a pan-European “warm-base” network of over 1,250 clinical sites and 900 laboratories across 42 countries. Ecraid utilizes its robust clinical research infrastructure to improve trial efficiency and quality, deliver high-impact results, and, ultimately, reduce the impact of infectious diseases on individual and population health. Established with financial support from the European Union, the nonprofit organization’s work contributes to the EU’s pandemic preparedness efforts through the project — ECRAID-Base.
Funded by the Wellcome Trust and academic institutions like the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health and the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at the National University of Singapore, ADVANCE-ID is an “open research network” that is working with and learning from doctors and researchers in more than 50 hospitals in 20 Asian-Pacific countries to treat, diagnose, and prevent infections. ADVANCE-ID’s goal is to design and conduct accelerated clinical trials in infectious diseases by improving diagnostics, antibiotic therapies, and treatment strategies.
The strategic partnership between ARLG, Ecraid, and ADVANCE-ID not only promises to enhance efficiency and effectiveness in infectious diseases research, but also sets a precedent for global collaboration in addressing public health challenges.
Research reported in this press release was supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number UM1AI104681. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.