TELEGRAPH | After years of pulling away from investment in antibiotic R&D, large pharmaceutical companies that launched the $1bn AMR Action Fund are showing they finally understand what is at stake. This initial investment while significant can sustain only a fraction of the pipeline, realistically advancing only two or three new drugs to market. Jeremy Knox, policy lead for Wellcome Trust’s drug-resistant infections programme, argues in this opinion piece that long-term sustainability depends on governments stepping in to fairly incentivise the antibiotic innovation we all need. It is time for politicians to recognise that like a COVID vaccine, antibiotics are a medical innovation we can’t afford to live without.