A world-leading researcher dedicated to tackling the urgent issue of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been awarded £8m from Wellcome.
Antimicrobial resistance is a global crisis, and progress on developing new antibiotics has stalled. Combining existing antibiotics may be the best way to treat bacteria that are highly drug-resistant and to stop new resistant strains from emerging.
Professor William Hope has secured significant funding to develop and deliver the Combination Antibiotic Accelerator, in collaboration with a consortium of researchers. This initiative will identify and prioritise antibiotic combinations that work effectively and help prevent resistance.
To deliver immediate benefits – and because no single approach fits every clinical setting – his research team will create a ranked list of combinations, starting with those most suitable for Southeast Asian countries. Professor Hope’s team have selected this geographical area as it is home to 25% of the world’s population and has an extraordinarily high prevalence of bacterial pathogens.
The new consortium includes world leading researchers in mathematical modelling of antimicrobial combinations (Professor Michael Neely, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, University of Southern California, USA) and clinical trials of antibiotics (Professor David Paterson, National University of Singapore and Director of ADVANCE ID).
Professor Hope, the Dame Sally Davies Chair of AMR Research at the University of Liverpool said: “Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the top global public health and development threats. It is estimated that bacterial AMR was directly responsible for 1.27 million global deaths in 2019 and contributed to 4.95 million deaths. This significant funding will provide vital fuel for our work into this urgent and global health challenge.”
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