The pharmaceutical company GSK has allocated £45 million in funding to the Fleming Initiative to develop six new research programmes focused on how AI and other advanced technologies can be used to accelerate antimicrobial resistance (AMR) research.
The Fleming Initiative was founded by Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust with the aim to connect research scientists, policymakers, clinicians, behavioural experts, public and commercial partners and “provide equitable solutions to AMR at a global scale”. The new funding will be used to support six ‘grand challenges’ for the next three years.
Projects being supported cover themes including: the discovery of new antibiotics for Gram-negative bacterial infections; the discovery of new drugs to combat fungal infections; improving understanding of how our immune systems respond to drug-resistant bacteria; the use of disease surveillance and environmental data to create predictive AI models; the development of a clinical trial to improve how and when antibiotics are prescribed; and the use of international research to inform policy and public engagement, embed preventative interventions, accelerate continued R&D and encourage societal and government action to get ahead of AMR.
One research initiative plans to use “the power of supercomputers” to aid AMR research, which includes partnering with AI experts from Imperial’s Drug Discovery Hub and Agilent Technologies to “use advanced automation and generate novel data sets on diverse molecules to create an AI/ML model that will enhance our ability to design antibiotics for multi-drug-resistant Gram-negative infections”.
The six projects aim to share data and insights widely, to help to inspire development of new, more effective medicines and vaccines globally.
Investing in AI innovations in healthcare: the wider trend
SBRI Healthcare has awarded £1 million to 11 innovations tackling antimicrobial resistance as part of its “Competition 25: AMR” phase 1 development funding competition. As part of the competition, projects will run for “up to six months” with the aim of demonstrating technical and commercial feasibility for innovative ideas including novel POC testing, AI-enabled testing, and the use of UV-C LED technology for disinfection. Selected projects will also be sponsored to undergo the NICE Metatool, “to help optimise their approach to addressing gaps in development plans and evidence generation, and to identify the potential next steps to bring their product to market”.
NHS Sussex has committed to improving its dermatology services and making care “easier to access, more consistent and better connected for people with skin conditions” through the use of digital technology and AI. As part of the NHS Sussex Improving Lives Together strategy, the ICS aims to transform services for patients with eczema, psoriasis, acne and moles by introducing digital tools that can support the delivery of “faster, more joined-up care”. The implementation of teledermatology and AI has been highlighted as a key driver for this initiative and will be used to help review skin images and support clinicians with making decisions.
£3.4 million in UKRI funding was recently awarded to the University of Leeds and Aston University for a joint research network to assess AI tools and promote responsible AI innovation in research. The network looks to respond to challenges faced by doctoral researchers resulting from a lack of guidance around the responsible use of publicly available AI tools in research. It will look to carry out extensive engagement with PhD researchers, supervisors and research staff to understand how such tools can be used to innovate, along with any identified challenges. This information will then be used to create a resource containing guidance on available AI tools, their intended uses, and best practice use cases.
