The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP) has announced the setting up of the Centre of Excellence in Antimicrobial Resistance innovation with the SBI Foundation at Bengaluru.
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Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been identified by WHO as one of the top 10 global health threats, claiming 7 lakh lives per year globally with a projected fatality rate of 10 million per year by 2050.
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Deep science entrepreneurial efforts
“While India is one of the leading nations from the Global South in research towards AMR mitigation, deep science entrepreneurial efforts to deliver these emerging solutions from bench to bedside have shown a serious lacuna,” C-CAMP said.
Announcing the initiative, Prof. Ajay Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Govt of India, said, “AMR poses a grave challenge to public health systems across the world and is a WHO priority. Paradoxically, AMR is one of the least funded domains in biotechnology due to its skewed market economics. Funding and handholding support for this deep science sector by the C-CAMP-SBIF CoE will be a tremendous boost for AMR innovation development.”
On IAIH platform
The centre will be under the aegis of the global India AMR Innovation Hub or IAIH platform, also anchored by C-CAMP and chaired by the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser. The focus of the centre will be on identifying and supporting, through funding and other means, a 360-degree portfolio of cutting-edge deep-science solutions across AMR and the larger health domain spanning food and agriculture, environment and healthcare.
The centre plans to kick off its operations by identifying and nurturing up to 12 innovations in the next two years. A nationwide India AMR Grand Challenges call is to be announced soon.