GSK and the UK government have pledged £130 million ($165 million) to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR) at home and abroad by improving access to existing medicines and diagnostic tools.
GSK said it is the first founding partner of the Fleming Initiative with its investment of £45 million ($57 million). The initiative will use technology and artificial intelligence to discover how drug-resistant infections are passed and to find new ways to survey AMR transmissions.
The Fleming Initiative will be based in St. Mary’s Hospital in London, known as the site where Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928. The initiative is due to open in 2028 and will be led by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Imperial College London.
“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,” GSK CEO Emma Walmsley said in a statement.
Andrew StephensonAs for the UK government, it is pledging £85 million ($108 million), with up to £50 million that will be used to partner with African countries to improve access to AMR medicines and $25 million to help Caribbean countries monitor AMR threats.
The other £10 million ($13 million) will be used to set up a global independent AMR panel in partnership between the UK government and Saudi Arabia.
“Antimicrobial Resistance could render our most vital medicines useless – it is a threat the world must take extremely seriously,” Health Minister Andrew Stephenson said in a separate release from the Department of Health and Social Care on Thursday morning.