Tackling AMR – Developing new ways of working

Dr Ghada Zoubiane

Medical Research Council - UK

AMR intergovernmental workshop - November 2015

Research Councils

NIHR

Defra/VMD

Patientsand carers

UK Government Departments

OSCHR

Medical charities

ParliamentariansPolicy-makers

Industry

International

Public

Research community

Universities

NHS

Learned societies

The UK: A rich network of funders and researchers

InnovateUK

UK 5 year AMR Strategy

• DH and DEFRA: 2013 -2018

• Seven key areas of action

Improving infection prevention and control practices

Optimising prescribing practice, stewardship

Improving professional education, training and public engagement

Developing new drugs, treatments and diagnostics

Better access to and use of surveillance data

Better identification and prioritisation of AMR research needs

Strengthened international collaboration

UK spend on AMR (2007-2013)

£163m£56m

£16.8m

£16.6m

£0.49m£21.7mTherapeutics

Diagnostics

Surveillance

Transmission

Environment

Interventions

Total funding: £275m (<1% research budget)

UnderpinningAlternativesOptimisationLead compounds

What is needed?

• Collaborative working

• Coordination of key disciplines

• Coordinating research funding – government and other research funders including industry

• Ensuring integration with human/animal healthcare

UK AMR Funders’ Forum

AMR Funders’ Forum (AMRFF)

• Made up of representatives from the research councils, governmental bodies and charities

• Led and managed by the MRC

• Has a common vision for AMR research and its implementation

• Will add value to existing programmes

• Will coordinate and/or support the initiation of funding and delivery programmes

• Will raise the profile of the AMR research base in the UK and internationally

AMRFF current membership

• The Arts and Humanities Research Councils (AHRC)

• The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)

• Defra, the Veterinary Medicines Directorate

• Department for International Development (DFID)

• The Department of Health

• Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl)

• The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)

• The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)

• The Food Standards Agency (FSA)

• HSC R&D Division, Public Health Agency, Northern Ireland

• Innovate UK

• *The Medical Research Council (MRC)

• National Institute of Health Research (NIHR)

• The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)

• Public Health England

• The Science and Technology Facilities Research Council (STFC)

• The Wellcome Trust

• The Welsh Government

UK Research Councils

• The research councils: broad remits; support AMR across the whole of the research spectrum

Research Councils portfolio: ~£25m per year on AMR

AMR Cross-council Initiative

• Launched June 2014

• All Research Councils – led by MRC

• Bacterial resistance in the first instance

• 4 themes to tackle AMR

Steering Group

Herman Goossens (Chair) – University of Antwerp, Belgium

Sharon Peacock – University of Cambridge/Bloomsbury Institute, UK

Duncan Maskell – University of Cambridge, UK

Rachel McKendry – University College London, UK

Richard Smith- London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK

Elizabeth Wellington – Warwick University, UK

David Payne – GlaxoSmithKline

Jared Silverman – VL32 (Ex-Cubist pharmaceuticals)

Antimicrobial Resistance –a thematic approach

Understanding resistant bacteria

Accelerating therapeutic

and diagnostic development

Understanding real world

interactions

Behaviour within an beyond the health care setting

Funding

• Multidisciplinary research

• Themed calls

• Mixed funding models

• Kick start with £36m

• Scalable approach

• Networking preceding final submissions

• Priority at next CSR