The AMR Centre at Alderley Park is to collaborate with Russian science and technology organisation the Skolkovo Foundation in an effort to tackle the global problem of antimicrobial resistance.
The pair has signed a formal agreement to work together and will look to identify opportunities for joint UK-Russian funding to support collaborative projects between organisations in both countries.
This agreement, which is being announced during the Genesis Conference at the QEII Centre in London and also at the UK-Russia Healthcare & Life Sciences Forum in Moscow, involves the AMR Centre providing support to Skolkovo-based small- and medium-sized enterprises for the pre-clinical development of new therapies and diagnostics for antimicrobial resistance.
The AMR Centre will offer assistance in the form of R&D expertise and help with funding applications including from its alliance partner CARB-X, a $400m (£299m) global initiative backed by the US Government and the UK charity the Wellcome Trust.
Dr Peter Jackson, executive director of the AMR Centre, said: "AMR is a very serious issue in Russia and we are pleased to be able to collaborate with Russian companies working in this field and offer our assistance and advice with funding and clinical expertise. There is a deep well of scientific resource in Russia which can be directed at this challenge and we will use our knowledge and contacts to help coordinate activity and bring on projects which might not otherwise progress.
"We are part of a number of UK government initiatives to build partnerships overseas and this will be a central part of our mission as we move into 2018."
The Skolkovo Foundation is a non-profit organisation founded in September 2010 by the Russian government with the objective of accelerating Russia's transformation from a resource-intensive to an innovation-based economy.
Kirill Kaem, senior vice-president for innovations of the Skolkovo Foundation, said: "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.
"For Skolkovo startups, it will be a great honour to start collaboration with AMRC as a scientific and advisory R&D centre in antibiotic resistance. This partnership is an opportunity for innovative Russian companies to become a part of international research programmes, and fight the global problem of antimicrobial resistance."
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