Research & Development

The University of Birmingham, UK hosted Bacterial Vaccines Network has been awarded £1.4m in funding from the UK government to accelerate the development of bacterial vaccines in the fight against antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This funding follows the Global AMR Innovation Fund’s (GAMRIF) £1.4m award in 2019 – both of which are part of the UK’s five-year (2019-2024) AMR national action plan.

In January 2022, the global burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance was published, the research of which revealed that AMR is now a leading global cause of death after the five million deaths associated with bacterial AMR in 2019. This second phase of funding will allow BactiVac to continue its pipeline of vaccine development projects.

Professor Adam Cunningham, co-director of BactiVac, professor of Functional Immunity, commented: “GAMRIF supports strategies to tackle AMR and bacterial vaccines play a key role in this by preventing bacterial diseases from developing, removing the need to use antimicrobials and reduce opportunities for AMR to develop. This is a key reason why the partnership between GAMRIF and BactiVac is so important for controlling AMR.”

Professor Calman MacLennan, director of BactiVac, added: “We are extremely grateful to be partnering with GAMRIF. There is a clear synergy between our organisations and the support provided by GAMRIF is vital for delivering BactiVac’s objective of advancing vaccines against bacterial pathogens and AMR.”

Professor Dame Sally Davies, UK’s first special envoy on AMR since 2019, stated: “I am absolutely delighted that GAMRIF continues to support the ongoing work of BactiVac. By advancing bacterial vaccines, the Network plays a key role in the global fight against antimicrobial resistance.”