WHO BULLETIN | The setting up of the AMR Action Fund, which will invest in antibiotic research and development, is an important development. New antibiotics are urgently needed and the fund will provide much needed support for the clinical development of some innovative products. While welcome, the Fund is only a bridging solution, according to this opinion piece by Peter Beyer (WHO), Thomas B. Cueni (International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations), Jeremy Knox (Wellcome Trust) and Felicitas Riedl (European Investment Bank). It will buy the world time to address the root cause of the lack of investment in antibiotic research and development. If governments do not address the market environment, new antibiotics will fail to reach patients who need them. More countries need to examine how they procure and use antibiotics with the aim of making these products globally available and keeping them in the market.