Fund will be huge boost to fight against drug-resistant bacteria

The United Kingdom’s Department of Health and Social Care has allocated 30 million pounds ($40 million) to a global fund set up by Britain and China to combat drug-resistant bacteria.

The fresh funding was announced this week and follows previous contributions in March when China and the UK committed 7 million pounds and 10 million pounds respectively to the Global Antimicrobial Resistance Innovation Fund, also called GAMRIF.

Established during President Xi Jinping’s state visit to the UK in 2015, GAMRIF assists scientists in the search for new remedies for infectious diseases that no longer respond to antibiotics and other chemical treatments.

“Antimicrobial resistance is no longer a threat of the future – it is a problem here and now, and one that is killing hundreds of thousands of people across the world each year,” said UK Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Jeremy Hunt. “This new investment cements our commitment to world-leading new research to tackle antimicrobial resistance on a global scale.”

Antibiotics are medicines that inhibit the growth of or destroy microorganisms such as bacteria. The development of antibiotics revolutionized medicine in the 20th century, saving millions of lives. However, overuse of antibiotics has led some types of bacteria to evolve resistance to formerly effective drugs.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which are sometimes called superbugs, kill around 700,000 people each year, according to a 2016 report commissioned by the UK government. Authors of the study estimate that if no action is taken, by 2050 that figure could rise to 10 million, which is more than currently die from cancer each year.

The UK health department said 20 million pounds of funding will go to the Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator, also called CARB-X, a United States non-profit organization that provides financial, scientific and business support to global research into the most dangerous drug-resistant bacteria.

An additional 10 million pounds will be divided between initiatives addressing a range of issues, including the effects of drug resistance on agriculture, the environment, and poverty-stricken regions of the world.

In March, the UK and China announced a collaborative competition between businesses and researchers in both countries who are working on solutions to the threat of antimicrobial resistance.

Applications to the competition are open, and China’s Ministry of Science and Technology will provide up to 7 million pounds in funding to the winning Chinese researchers, with the UK government providing up to 10 million pounds to successful British applicants.

The competition, which is organized by British innovation agency Innovate UK, will look for projects that explore solutions to diagnosis and treatment for drug resistance, including possible remedies from traditional Chinese medicine.

“The threat posed by antimicrobial resistance could cause 10 million extra deaths a year and cost the global economy up to 75 trillion pounds by 2050,” said Ruth McKernan, chief executive of Innovate UK. “This is a challenge for the whole world and the partnership with China is an important opportunity to face that threat together.”