Two ARLG multicenter trials, FAST and DOTS, were highlighted in a late-breaking session at the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) Global Congress on April 18. The studies were two of four chosen for the high‑profile session, emphasizing the ARLG’s significant international impact on antibiotic resistance research.

FAST (Fast Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing for Gram-Negative Bacteremia), published in JAMA, evaluated whether rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing improves outcomes for patients with serious Gram-negative bloodstream infections. The randomized trial enrolled more than 800 patients across four countries with high levels of antibiotic resistance. While rapid testing enabled clinicians to adjust treatment about 14 hours sooner, it did not improve patients’ overall survival or complication free outcomes at 30 days compared with standard testing. However, in a subgroup of patients with carbapenem-resistant infections, faster testing was associated with fewer patients still hospitalized at day 30.

DOTS (Dalbavancin as an Option for Treatment of Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia), examined a two dose dalbavancin regimen for S. aureus bloodstream infections. A secondary analysis, published in JAMA Network Open, detailed findings from pharmacokinetic data from 97 patients. The analysis showed that drug exposure varied across patients and was influenced by kidney function, age, weight, and albumin levels. Successful outcomes were significantly more likely in patients who had higher drug levels at around three weeks of treatment. These findings suggest that some patients may benefit from individualized dosing approaches.

These ARLG studies provide important high-quality evidence to guide smarter, safer treatment for serious antibiotic-resistant infections.

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Emily Lydon, MD, an ARLG Early-Stage Investigator Seed Grant recipient, was honored with an Emerging Generation Award from the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) for her career in research. This award highlights Dr. Lydon’s meaningful contributions to the field of infectious diseases as an early-career physician-scientist.

Dr. Lydon’s work focuses on using multi-omic profiling and advanced computational methods to better understand host-pathogen interactions and develop innovative diagnostic tests for lower respiratory tract infections, particularly in immunocompromised patients. As an ARLG mentee, Dr. Lydon led the Integrated Metagenomic PROfiling to adVancE LRTI diagnosis and stewardship in lung transplant (IMPROVE-LRTI) study. This research aims to differentiate true infection from microbial colonization in lung transplant recipients, create a host-microbial classifier for accurate LRTI diagnosis, and assess how antibiotic exposure affects antimicrobial resistance genes in these patients. If successful and implemented in clinical practice, this test would help to combat the antibacterial resistance crisis by decreasing the number of antibiotics unnecessarily prescribed to lung transplant recipients.

Dr. Lydon is currently a post-doctoral fellow in Infectious Diseases at the University of California, San Francisco, where she is continuing her important work to improve precision diagnostics for infectious diseases, promote antimicrobial stewardship, and improve clinical outcomes for immunocompromised and transplant patients with infectious diseases.

Read the ASCI Emerging Generation Award article to learn more about Dr. Lydon’s research for which she earned this important recognition of her work to improve care for patients with infectious diseases.

Every year, the Congress of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) brings together experts in infectious diseases and clinical microbiology, including many ARLG members. ESCMID Global 2026 is being held on April 17-21 in Munich, Germany, with live streaming of sessions for virtual attendees. Check out the list below of ARLG members who are speaking or chairing events.  For the full schedule with more details about each of these sessions, visit the ESCMID Global Congress program page.

ARLG Member Presentations at ESCMID Global 2026

ARLG Member Posters at ESCMID Global 2026

A new manuscript in Nature Communications discusses the global effort to support phage therapy and features ARLG’s research along with other collaborative initiatives. “Considerations and perspectives on phage therapy from the Transatlantic Taskforce on Antimicrobial Resistance (TATFAR)” details discussions from key meetings in 2023 and 2024 where experts and regulatory authorities from the United States, Canada, the European Union, Norway, and the United Kingdom examined the scientific, regulatory, and logistical challenges surrounding phage therapy.

The publication aims to fill critical research gaps, support therapeutic research and development, and accelerate the translation of phage therapeutics into clinical practice.
This TATFAR initiative to advance phage therapy was collaborative effort among several domestic and international agencies including the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), European Medicines Agency (EMA), Health Canada, and the European Commission’s Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA).

The insight provided by TATFAR helps to clarify the current landscape of phage therapy on a global scale and guide its direction in the future. These and other collaborative efforts inform the broader goal to advance evidence-driven approaches that will combat the threat of antimicrobial resistance worldwide.

Read the full publication

Thomas Lodise, PharmD, PhD, who serves as the ARLG Network’s Pharmacokinetic Scientific Lead, received the 2025 Literature Award for Sustained Contributions from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) Foundation. With over 250 peer-reviewed articles, Dr. Lodise has made significant contributions to biomedical literature on treatments for antimicrobial resistant (AMR) infections.

Congratulations to Dr. Lodise for this recognition of his impactful work to combat the antibacterial resistance crisis and improve patient care!

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ARLG Co-Principal Investigator, Vance Fowler, MD, and Helen Boucher, MD, ARLG Executive Committee Member and Innovations Working Group Chair, shared their insights on the current state of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in a recent article published by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). The article, “Where are we in the battle against antibiotic-resistant infections?,” also included their strategies to combat this global health crisis.

Dr. Boucher, an Infectious Disease (ID) Specialist, Dean of the Tufts University School of Medicine, and Chief Academic Officer of Tufts Medicine, emphasized practicing infection prevention and antibiotic stewardship to decrease rates of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in hospitals. The development of diagnostic tests to determine if an infection is bacterial or viral is another promising avenue to combat AMR. However, Dr. Boucher notes, it has been challenging to determine how best to use the tests and make them cost effective.

Dr. Fowler, ID Specialist and Professor of Medicine at Duke University School of Medicine, highlighted the need for renewed investment in the development of antibiotics by the pharmaceutical industry, which could be supported through the PASTEUR Act if passed by Congress. Bacteriophage therapy is emerging as a strong potential treatment for antibiotic-resistant infections. Dr. Fowler served as Chair of a blinded independent adjudication committee to evaluate the results of a phase 2 trial conducted at UCLA. The study showed promising results for a phage “cocktail” used in combination with standard of care antibiotics to treat patients with complicated Staphylococcus aureus infections.

The AAMC article also cites antimicrobial use in livestock and agriculture and ID workforce shortages as other areas that need to be addressed to combat the AMR crisis.

Read the article on the AAMC website.

Congratulations to the ARLG Steering Committee members who received recognition as one of Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers in 2025! Clarivate uses a meticulous process to identify researchers who have significantly influenced their fields during the past year. Learn more about the important work these leaders in antimicrobial resistance are doing to improve patient care by advancing the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria:

• Vance Fowler, MD, MHS, Duke University (Cross-Field)
• David van Duin, MD, PhD, FIDSA, FAST, University of North Carolina (Immunology)
• Yohei Doi, MD, PhD, University of Pittsburgh (Immunology)
• David Paterson, National University of Singapore (Pharmacology and Toxicology)

We are pleased to announce that the PHAGE study has successfully reached database lock. This Phase 1b/2 clinical trial investigated the safety profile and microbiological activity of bacteriophage therapy in individuals with cystic fibrosis (CF) who are chronically colonized with Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Led by Pranita Tamma, MD, MHS, University of Pennsylvania, and Robert Schooley, MD, University of California, San Diego, the trial enrolled 72 participants across 17 sites. Participants were randomized to receive either a single intravenous dose of a four-component bacteriophage cocktail or a placebo.

The data generated from the PHAGE study will deepen our understanding of optimal dosing strategies, safety considerations, and the expected microbiological responses associated with bacteriophage therapy. Importantly, these findings will guide the design of future clinical trials that aim to advance bacteriophage-based treatments for antimicrobial-resistant infections, extending beyond P. aeruginosa-related lung disease.

For additional details, consult the study record—and stay tuned for forthcoming results.

Congratulations to ARLG Fellow Natalie Mackow, MD, MSCR! Dr. Mackow received the SHEA Trainee award at IDWeek 2025 for her abstract, “Using a novel Anaerobic Activity Index to assess risk for poor outcomes in burn patients in a burn intensive care unit.”

Dr. Mackow’s research aims to inform antibacterial therapy practices in patients with severe burns to reduce the prevalence of antibacterial resistance, which may be applicable to prevention approaches in other critically ill patient populations.

“Systemic antibiotic therapy is an important, potentially modifiable, risk factor for antibacterial resistance in this vulnerable patient population,” says Dr. Mackow. “Additionally, a novel tool to improve our definition of the anti-anaerobic activity of antibacterials has the potential to be utilized broadly in clinical studies and clinical practice, once validated.”

Learn more about Dr. Mackow’s research and how an ARLG Fellowship supported her work to improve outcomes for patients with severe burns in her ARLG Mentee Spotlight.

In a recent article, “DOTS: Optimism Around a ‘Negative’ Dalbavancin Trial,” Dr. Paul Sax summarizes the results of the DOTS study and why the findings are important.

Researchers for the DOTS study wanted to learn if two doses of dalbavancin, a long-lasting antibiotic often used to treat severe, bacterial skin infections, could work better than the standard peripherally inserted central catheter (or PICC line) antibiotic treatment for patients hospitalized for complicated Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infections. The study results showed that although dalbavancin was not better at treating bloodstream infections, it worked as well as the standard therapy with fewer patients having to stop or change treatment due to side effects.

“So yes, DOTS was ‘negative’ on its primary outcome,” said Dr. Sax. “But it also showed that dalbavancin performs about as well as what we do now, with far less infrastructure: no PICC, no daily infusions, no vancomycin levels, fewer moving parts.”

Learn more about these important findings to improve patient outcomes for antibiotic-resistant infections in the ARLG news and the DOTS Summary of Results.