Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) continues to be recognised as one of the most pressing global health threats, yet investment into novel antibiotics remains constrained by persistent commercial challenges. During an interview with Michael Lamprecht, Investment Manager at Tenmile, the issue is not a lack of medical demand, but rather the structural economics surrounding antibiotic development.
“Because novel antibiotics are reserved as a last resort, the sales volumes needed to justify development costs never materialise,” Lamprecht explained. While stewardship-driven conservation remains clinically necessary, he noted that the model simultaneously weakens the financial incentives required to sustain innovation.
The investment landscape, however, is not uniform across the broader AMR ecosystem. Lamprecht pointed to diagnostics and vaccines as areas still attracting meaningful investor interest, particularly where clear commercial pathways and preventative healthcare markets exist. Diagnostics, in particular, are benefiting from increasing demand for more precise infectious disease identification and more targeted antibiotic usage.
Novel antibiotics, by contrast, continue to face a significantly more difficult funding environment. “Investors need to see a solid business case, not just a clinical one,” he said, highlighting the disconnect between public health necessity and commercial sustainability.
Lamprecht also questioned whether current government-led reimbursement and incentive models go far enough to address the structural limitations facing antibiotic developers. While initiatives such as the UK’s subscription-based reimbursement framework represent positive intent, he argued that fragmented regulatory systems across jurisdictions continue to create inefficiencies and added costs for manufacturers.
Rather than relying solely on regional funding schemes, he believes greater impact could come from global regulatory harmonisation and mutual recognition pathways that reduce duplication and accelerate market access across multiple regions.
Beyond antibiotics alone, Lamprecht stressed the importance of coordinated investment across diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutics. “AMR is not a problem we will ever fully solve; resistance is a biological inevitability,” he said. In his view, sustained progress will require a long-term portfolio approach that combines improved diagnostics, preventative vaccination strategies, and continuous development of new antimicrobials.
The pathway from innovation to adoption also remains challenging. According to Lamprecht, barriers extend beyond financing into clinical practice itself, including prescriber behaviour, hospital formulary restrictions, and the paradox that the most effective new antibiotics are often the ones clinicians are most reluctant to use in order to preserve efficacy.
Tenmile’s portfolio reflects what the firm sees as a more commercially disciplined approach to AMR innovation. Companies including LimmaTech Biologics, Lumos Diagnostics, and Revagenix have focused on building commercially grounded strategies capable of generating revenue independently of government subsidies, while also leveraging non-dilutive funding to reduce investor risk.
Lamprecht noted that addressing AMR will require coordinated participation across the entire healthcare and investment ecosystem, ranging from academic research and government grants to venture capital and large pharmaceutical commercialisation capabilities. “None of these actors can solve AMR alone,” he said.
Looking ahead, he believes stronger government engagement will still be necessary to catalyse broader private investment. Proposed measures such as the PASTEUR Act in the United States, which includes substantial revenue guarantees for qualifying antibiotics, could provide the structural market signals investors have been waiting for.
“A world without effective antibiotics is simply not a world we can accept,” Lamprecht added, highlighting the urgency of developing more sustainable financial and regulatory frameworks for AMR innovation.
