£39 million for AMR research as UK launches Global Health Framework

Cutting-edge research initiatives to develop new treatments to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR) – known as the “silent killer” – will receive a cash injection of up to £39 million from the UK government’s Global AMR Innovation Fund (GAMRIF).

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) – where bacteria have evolved so much that antibiotics and other current treatments are no longer effective against infections – is a silent killer costing millions of lives across the world a year, with one in five of these deaths in children under the age of five.

Of this new funding package, up to £24 million over four years has been awarded to bolster the UK’s partnership with CARB-X – a global AMR research initiative – to support the continued early development of invaluable new antibiotics, vaccines, rapid diagnostics and other products to combat life threatening drug-resistant infections and prevent death and disease across the world.

The UK has already given £20 million of its ringfenced Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget to the initiative which, together with other funders, has resulted in CARB-X in turn investing nearly £40 million into the UK’s world-leading science and innovation industry.

In addition to the CARB-X grant, GAMRIF is investing £5 million over two years into the Global Antibiotic R&D Partnership (GARDP) to develop – and ensure global access to – new antibiotic treatments against major global health priorities.