The AMR Centre (AMRC) has teamed up (PDF) with Russia’s Skolkovo Foundation to further development of therapies that overcome microbial resistance. AMRC will provide preclinical support to startups working out of an incubator overseen by the foundation.
Skolkovo has succeeded in incubating a large number of biomedical startups. But its antimicrobial efforts are underdeveloped and cut off from international funding, shortcomings Skolkovo is looking to AMRC to help address.
“Out of our 430 biomedical startups, Skolkovo’s project portfolio includes only a few companies that are developing new antibiotics or diagnostic solutions in this therapeutic area and we would like to have more,” Kirill Kaem, SVP for innovations at the Skolkovo Foundation, said in a statement. “This partnership is an opportunity for innovative Russian companies to become a part of international research programs.”
As part of the $400 million, U.S. government backed CARB-X initiative, AMRC has access to sources of funding that could further research in Russia. AMRC plans to help Russian startups access these and other monies, while also making its R&D expertise available to the companies.
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The agreement with Skolkovo is part of a concerted effort by AMRC to form cross-border alliances. Recognizing that it is powerless to stop the rise of antimicrobial resistance itself, the U.K. has made international cooperation a focus of its efforts in the area since they took shape under an earlier government. AMRC expects these activities to continue next year.
“We are part of a number of U.K. government initiatives to build partnerships overseas and this will be a central part of our mission as we move into 2018,” AMRC executive director Peter Jackson said in a statement.
AMRC currently has two other international collaborations. The public-private partnership licensed metallo-beta-lactamase inhibitors from Sweden’s Medivir two months ago. And the month before that, it signed up to co-develop Microbiotix's T3SS inhibitor program.