AMR Benchmark 2026: Pharma efforts show progress, but superbugs still outpace innovation

The article highlights that drug resistance is outpacing efforts to tackle it, citing that one million people a year die directly due to drug-resistant infections, with antimicrobial resistance contributing to over four million deaths a year total. 

It emphasises that while more comprehensive action is needed, it’s not too late to take action and curb drug resistance. “We can tilt the battle against superbugs in humanity’s favour. Our findings show practical approaches that can ramp up progress on all fronts,” says Jayasree K. Iyer, CEO of the Access to Medicine Foundation.

Although the antimicrobial pipeline for large research-based companies has shrunk by 35%, the article highlights seven late-stage projects with strong potential from the report, from GSK, Otsuka, Shionogi, BioVersys, F2G, Innoviva, and Venatorx. It also mentions two innovative products – GSK’s gepotidacin, targeting uncomplicated urinary tract infections, and Innoviva’s zoliflodacin, for gonorrhoea. Both offer the first new treatment options in decades.

The article emphasises that more coordinated action across sectors will be needed alongside innovative R&D, quoting the Foundation’s Director of Research Claudia Martínez: “From R&D through manufacturing, to access and stewardship and measuring real-world patient reach, the Benchmark illustrates the potential for companies to develop more comprehensive approaches. But we need intensified, industry-wide action.”