Tackling AntiMicrobial Resistance with

The University of Oxford

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is dramatically increasing worldwide, becoming one of the most urgent global public health and development threats. According to the World Health Organisation, in 2019 it is estimated that bacterial AMR was directly responsible for 1.27 million deaths and contributed to a further 4.95 million deaths globally.  AMR affects countries in all regions and at all income levels and puts many of the gains of modern medicine at risk.  If we don’t find ways to combat AMR, everyday procedures like having a filling or giving birth could become life- threatening.  In addition to death and disability, AMR also has a significant economic cost.  The World Bank estimates that AMR could result in US$ 1 trillion additional healthcare costs by 2050, and US$ 1 trillion to US$ 3.4 trillion GDP losses per year by 2030. 
 

There is a pressing need to understand how pathogenic agents evolve and spread across geographies and hosts, and reverse the spread of resistant pathogens through developing innovative drugs (antibiotics, anti-parasites, antifungals, antivirus) and therapeutic strategies as sustainable treatments of infectious diseases.

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For more than 25 years, the Institut Pasteur and the University of Oxford have been working together to find sustainable solutions to combat AMR through:

(1) Diagnostics and Surveillance: Developing and maintaining a microbial genomic platform that allows disease surveillance, outbreak tracking and research on understanding how pathogenic agents evolve and spread across geographies and hosts.

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(2) Drug Discovery: Developing cutting-edge projects at the interface of chemistry and biology to reverse the spread of resistant pathogens and develop innovative drugs and therapeutic strategies as sustainable treatments of infectious disease.