GSK to Become a Founding Partner of Fleming Initiative

GSK will become the first founding partner of the Fleming Initiative, an innovative and collaborative approach led by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Imperial College London to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR) around the world.

AMR is widely recognised, including by the World Health Organization, as an urgent global public health threat. In 2019 there were an estimated 1.2 million deaths directly attributable to drug-resistant bacterial infections and as many as 10 million people could die annually from AMR by 2050, resulting in global economic damage of up to $100 trillion by 2050 without effective action.

The Fleming Initiative’s unique and transformative approach will bring together world-class scientific, technology, policy and behavioural science expertise with clinical experience in a global network of centres to find, test, and scale solutions to AMR.

GSK’s £45 million pledge would be available for approved projects to harness new technology including AI to better interpret and use complex scientific data, identify new opportunities to develop novel treatments and interventions, improve understanding of how drug-resistant infections are transmitted and can be prevented, and understand how better surveillance approaches might improve detection and tracking of infections. The Initiative will also have a strong focus on diagnostics so that the right antimicrobial drugs are given to those who need them, and on education and public engagement to support behavioural change to reduce AMR.

The Initiative is particularly focused on supporting countries most severely affected by AMR where poverty, climate change and health inequality exacerbate the issues caused by drug resistant infections. Taking an enabling and scaling role, the first Fleming Centre will be based at St Mary’s Hospital in London, at the site of the discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming in 1928. The Centre will work closely with a network of centres in strategic locations around the world to catalyse worldwide action.

For over 70 years, GSK has been involved in discovering, manufacturing, and making antibiotics available to patients. GSK legacy companies played important roles in the research and manufacture of penicillin and during the Second World War the company supplied around 80% of the UK’s penicillin. GSK currently has the largest AMR-relevant research and development pipeline in the industry, with more than 30 medicines and vaccines in development, 12 of which target pathogens deemed ‘critical’ or ‘urgent’ by WHO and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Emma Walmsley, GSK CEO said: “This will be an important collaboration for GSK building on our long- standing commitment to tackling AMR and our focus on disease prevention. The Fleming Initiative will bring together global resources and expertise from across different sectors to better understand the factors contributing to this growing threat and most importantly, drive action and solutions. We are proud to be a founding partner, and hope others will join us to support this urgent priority”.

GSK’s pledge was announced on Thursday 16th May by Imperial’s Professor the Lord Darzi of Denham, Executive Chair of the Fleming Initiative, and GSK CEO Emma Walmsley, at an event celebrating global efforts and initiatives to tackle AMR convened by the UK Department for Health and Social Care and the Royal Society. The Prince of Wales, Patron of the appeal to create The Fleming Initiative will also be in attendance.

Lord Darzi, Chair of the Fleming Initiative, said: “Alexander Fleming’s extraordinary discovery was brought to the world through partnership with industry. As we approach the centenary of his breakthrough, we are delighted that GSK will be a founding partner for the Fleming Initiative – bringing their invaluable expertise and experience to help ensure collective action and protect generations to come.”