A new state-of-the-art institute for antimicrobial research is to open at the University of Oxford thanks to a £100 million donation from Ineos, one of the world’s largest manufacturing companies.
The new institute is being launched to combat the growing global issue of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which currently causes an estimated 1.5 million excess deaths each year and could result in over 10 million deaths annually by 2050. Predicted to also create a global economic toll of $100 trillion by the middle of the century, AMR is arguably the greatest economic and healthcare challenge facing the world post-COVID.
It is bacterial resistance, caused by overuse and misuse of antibiotics, which perhaps poses the broadest threat to global populations. The world is fast running out of effective antibiotics as bacteria evolve to develop resistance to existing treatments. Without urgent collaborative action to prevent common microbes becoming multi-drug resistant (commonly known as ‘superbugs’), we could return to a world where taken-for-granted treatments such as chemotherapy and hip replacements become too risky, childbirth becomes extremely dangerous, and even a basic scratch could kill.
The new Ineos Oxford Institute for AMR Research (IOI) will benefit from the internationally outstanding facilities and expertise of Oxford University, which played a key role in the origin and development of antibiotics following Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin in the last century. The IOI will create collaborative and cross-disciplinary links across the sciences, and will connect the University’s Department of Chemistry and the Department of Zoology with the new Life and Mind Building, which is currently under construction.
Prolonging the benefits of antibiotics known since the 1940s requires both urgent new drug development, and better management of existing drugs. While it is natural that the microbes causing illness and infection gradually evolve to evade treatments, misuse of antibiotics – for instance overuse and not finishing a full prescribed course – drastically accelerates this process. Meanwhile, the field of new drug discovery has attracted insufficient scientific interest and funding in recent decades, meaning no new antibiotics have been successfully developed since the 1980s.
The majority of global antibiotic consumption by volume is used for agriculture, and drug use in animals is contributing significantly to their lessening effectiveness in humans. The IOI will therefore focus on designing novel antimicrobials just for animals, as well as exploring potential new human drugs.
Alongside its drug discovery work, the IOI intends to partner with other global leaders in the field of antimicrobial resistance to promote responsible use of antimicrobial drugs. The academic team will contribute to research on the type and extent of drug resistant microbes across the world, and critically, will seek to attract and train the brightest minds in science to tackle this ‘silent pandemic’.
Professor Louise Richardson, Vice Chancellor of the University of Oxford, said: ‘This is a wonderfully generous gift for which we are very grateful. It is another example of a powerful partnership between public and private institutions to address global problems. Oxford played a crucial role in the early development of antibiotics so it is only appropriate that we take the lead in developing a solution to antimicrobial resistance.’
Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Chairman of Ineos, said: ‘Innovative collaboration between industry, academia and government is now crucial to fight against AMR. Ineos, in its 22 years, has become the largest private company in the UK, delivering large-scale, ambitious technical projects with impactful results. We are excited to partner with one of the world’s leading research universities to accelerate progress in tackling this urgent global challenge.’
David Sweetnam, a surgeon and adviser to the Ineos Oxford Institute, said: ‘The growing menace of bacterial resistance to antibiotics is one of the most underreported issues of our time. All modern surgery and cancer treatments rely on the use of effective antibiotics. To lose this precious gift will signal a return to a pre-antibiotic era. We now have a very narrow window of opportunity in which to change course and prevent the unthinkable from becoming the inevitable.’
The donation by Ineos is one of the largest ever given to a UK university, and builds on the company’s long commitment to philanthropy in the public health space. Ineos has already funded initiatives such as The Daily Mile, which aims to get the world’s children active every day, to tackle obesity and improve health and wellbeing.