GSK to become a founding partner of Fleming Initiative to fight antimicrobial resistance (AMR)

In 2019 there were an estimated 1.2 million deaths directly attributable to drug-resistant bacterial infections and as many as 10 million people could die annually from AMR by 2050, resulting in global economic damage of up to $100 trillion by 2050 without effective action. The Fleming Initiative’s unique and transformative approach will bring together world-class scientific, technology, policy and behavioural science expertise with clinical experience in a global network of centres to find, test, and scale solutions to AMR. GSK’s £45 million pledge would be available for approved projects to harness new technology including AI to better interpret and use complex scientific data, identify new opportunities to develop novel treatments and interventions, improve understanding of how drug-resistant infections are transmitted and can be prevented, and understand how better surveillance approaches might improve detection and tracking of infections. The Initiative will also have a strong focus on diagnostics so that the right antimicrobial drugs are given to those who need them, and on education and public engagement to support behavioural change to reduce AMR.