Twenty-two research-based biopharmaceutical companies invested more than $2 billion in research and development to counter antimicrobial resistance in 2016, according to a survey released Thursday, potentially upending widespread perceptions that the private sector is trailing institutional donors in tackling AMR.

The sum is more than four times the amount currently invested by governments and philanthropic organizations worldwide, according to the report from the AMR Alliance, a platform of 100 biotechnology, diagnostic, generics and research-based pharmaceutical companies and trade associations that was formed to drive and measure industry progress to curb AMR.

Based on a survey of 36 AMR Alliance members, it is the first assessment of private sector investment in the threat.

However, the report also points to the fragility of funding to combat AMR, which kills more than 700,000 people per year. The World Health Organization estimates that deaths due to AMR could rise to 10 million per year by 2050 — more than cancer. New antibiotics, or preventative measures such as vaccines, are the best hope against AMR, which could make the most minor health conditions and routine treatments lethal within a lifetime.

Read the full article about funding antimicrobial resistance research by Molly Anders at Devex International Development