Underinvestment in antibacterial research

Less than 1% of public and charitable funding from bodies in the UK was awarded to antibiotics research in the last five years. Researchers at the University of Birmingham found that of the £13.8 billion research funding available, only £95 million, or 0.7% of the total, was awarded to research on antibiotics. “The message that antibacterial (i.e., antibiotic) drug resistance has become a world health crisis has been brought to global attention by WHO, the European Union, the World Economic Forum and, most recently, the UK Chief Medical Officer,” said Professor Laura Piddock. “As a world leader in biomedical research, UK research has an important part to play in tackling this crisis. However, our study clearly shows that the proportion of public and charitable funding for research into new antibiotics, understanding resistance mechanisms and ways of tackling resistance are inadequate for the size of the task.” The study – published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases – is the first detailed review of public and charitable funding to UK researchers working in bacteriology and antibiotic resistance. It suggests that present levels of funding are inadequate and need to be urgently increased if antibiotic resistance is to be tackled effectively. The authors also suggest that publically available, subject-specific funding databases which allow for investment in priority areas should be tracked. “Since 2011, most new EU funding has focussed on public-private partnership with industry,” said Piddock. “However, increased understanding about antibiotic resistance is needed, not least to inform strategies to both minimise and prevent antibiotic-resistant bacterial arising when new treatments become available.” These results come at the same time as the Longitude Prize for Antibiotics calls for help with shaping the competition criteria, a project Piddock is involved in. The British public voted antibiotic resistance as the greatest scientific problem facing our generation in June. The prize is encouraging the development of a wide variety of point of care diagnostics regardless of infection or clinical context. Initial criteria have been developed by the Longitude Committee and Nesta, who will review the guidelines following the closure of a public consultation on 13^th August. Entry will open on 6th October, after which entrants will have five years to find, develop and submit solutions for the £10m prize. UK and European Union public and charitable funding from 2008 to 2013 for bacteriology and antibiotic research in the UK: an observational study Longitude Prize Consultation