Innovate UK, LifeArc, and Medicines Discovery Catapult (MDC) have joined forces to create PACE (Pathways to Antimicrobial Clinical Efficacy), a £30 million initiative supporting early-stage innovation against antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to save lives.
PACE has announced its first funding call with up to £10 million available to support innovators developing new antimicrobials. As the UK's largest public-private initiative targeting early-stage antimicrobial drug and diagnostic discovery, PACE will select, invest in and support projects that address the world's most threatening pathogens. It will deliver innovations for onward development and investment, moving them closer to clinical trials. By tackling this problem collectively, with a pandemic-style focus, the early translational science community will be supported to deliver the breakthroughs needed.
Antimicrobial resistance is one of the top ten global health threats. By 2050, as many as ten million people could die each year as a result of AMR, more than the population of London. The economic impact is also vast. The World Bank predicts that from 2015 to 2050, the cost of AMR will be US $3.5 billion per year on healthcare alone.
AMR is complex. Bacteria and other microbes are evolving to become resistant to treatment, driven in large part by our overuse and misuse of antibiotics. There is an urgent need to grow a pipeline of new antimicrobial tests and treatments. PACE will apply vital learning from other disease areas such as cancer and COVID-19, where diagnosis and treatment have been transformed in recent years. It will provide wrap-around support for a diverse range of funded projects with the most transformational potential - from targeted treatments to rapid diagnostics and other innovative developments being driven by the community.
PACE is a collaboration between three leaders in the UK's health innovation and research community. It harnesses their unique expertise - catalysing and working with the global AMR community to accelerate the speed of innovation to mitigate the risk of AMR. PACE will bring together the right funding, resources, and partnerships to help innovators progress their early-stage antimicrobial drug and diagnostics projects with greater speed, support and confidence – giving the best AMR innovations the greatest chance of success.
Professor Dame Sally Davies, UK Special Envoy on Antimicrobial Resistance, said: “I have always been clear that antimicrobial resistance is one the most severe global health threats that we face globally. Drug-resistant bacterial infections already kill 1.27 million people a year, and experts predict that AMR could kill over 10 million people a year as soon as 2050. I firmly believe that the development of new effective, affordable and equitably accessible antibiotics and rapid diagnostics is not just a medical necessity but a global imperative.”
PACE's first funding call is now open, with up to £10 million in grant funding initially available to support up to 12 projects focused on developing new treatments for the most threatening microbes and resistance mechanisms. AMR innovators worldwide are eligible to apply, with projects expected to last up to two years, with total funding of up to £1 million per project. Expressions of interest are invited by 24 November, and an informational webinar will be held on 31 October for interested parties.
Visit www.paceamr.org.uk for further information.