Words by Isabel O’Brien
GSK has pledged £45m to the Fleming Initiative, a UK programme to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR), led by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Imperial College London.
The new programme will focus on supporting countries most affected by AMR, where poverty, climate change and health inequalities exacerbate the problems caused by drug-resistant infections, and will bring together a range of stakeholders to find, test and scale up solutions to tackle the health challenge.
AMR is being widely hailed as a pressing threat to public health worldwide, with projections indicating a staggering potential toll of 10 million lives annually by 2050 without effective intervention.
Emma Walmsley, CEO, GSK, emphasised the importance of tackling this significant health challenge in a press release and called on other key players to join GSK in supporting the initiative.
“The Fleming Initiative will bring together global resources and expertise from across different sectors to better understand the factors contributing to this growing threat and most importantly, drive action and solutions. We are proud to be a founding partner, and hope others will join us to support this urgent priority,” she said.
The new initiative will focus on using artificial intelligence to better understand and prevent drug-resistant infections. It will also focus on refining surveillance methods and improving diagnostics, with behavioural science underpinning the group’s work with the public.
Professor Hugh Brady, President, Imperial College London, said: “Antimicrobial resistance is one of the most serious challenges facing humanity. The Fleming Initiative will see Imperial build on its impressive track record of societal engagement, policy research and convergence science to tackle this issue head-on.”
The new AMR programme will be based at the Fleming Centre, which is due to open at St Mary’s Hospital in London in 2028, on the same site where Sir Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin nearly 100 years ago. Additional support comes from HRH Prince William, the Prince of Wales, who has been announced as patron of the organisation.
