UK Government announces £10m antimicrobial resistance research competition

The UK Government’s Department of Health and Social Care has announced the launch of a £10 million research competition aimed at combatting antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as part of its five year antimicrobial resistance strategy.

The £10 million will be made available through research grants with the aim of increasing understanding of ways in which AMR can be tackled and prevented. AMR, which poses a significant health threat across the world, threatens to reverse the advancements made in modern medicine as currently treatable infections could become life threatening in coming years.

As expanded upon by England’s Chief Medical Officer Professor Dame Sally Davies: "Antimicrobial resistance may seem like a distant threat, but people are already dying needlessly in their thousands across the world, including in this country, because they have a drug-resistant infection and we do not have effective drugs to treat them. This problem is only getting worse – we urgently need to find solutions."  

The issue came into the spotlight in 2016 through a government-commissioned review by Lord Jim O’Neill which stated the necessity for more research and development in combatting AMR. This prompted the government to commit an additional investment of £55 million over five years, starting from 2016/17, in the fight against AMR.

Davies added that: "More research is critical, which is why the UK Government is calling on some of the country’s brightest minds to come up with new ways to prevent, control and combat these infections in the future. I know there are exciting projects needing support in this area – this competition presents a fantastic opportunity for the UK to lead this work."

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