£100m donated to Oxford University for antibiotic resistance research

On Tuesday, Oxford University received a donation of £100 million ($136 million) to research growing resistance to antibiotics.

The donation, contributed by British multinational chemicals production company Ineos, is one of the largest donations given to Oxford University in its long history.

This funding will be used to launch a new institute to combat the troubling phenomenon of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), caused by the increased exposure of animals and humans to the medicines which treat diseases caused by bacteria.

Increased antibiotic resistance caused an excess of 1.5 million deaths each year, according to the university, adding that by 2050, up to 10 million deaths each year could be caused because antibiotics and other antimicrobial drugs are no longer effective against common diseases.

Professor Louise Richardson, Oxford's Vice Chancellor, said that the coronavirus pandemic had shown the urgent need to deal with the "cataclysmic" threat posed to public health by antibiotic resistance, adding that "We certainly knew that there was a high potential for another pandemic, we were reminded of that many times, and yet we were caught unprepared".

"We know that human antibiotics are, with every passing year, becoming fewer and fewer because of the growth of resistance so it's absolutely imperative that we act, and the impact of being unprepared for the pandemic I think reinforces the importance of acting before it's too late."

Ineos Chief Executive Jim Ratcliffe said that the collaboration between industry and academia was "now crucial to fight against AMR", stating that "We are excited to partner with one of the world's leading research universities to accelerate progress in tackling this urgent global challenge".