Today [14/4/16] Chancellor George Osborne gave a statement from Washington on the need for a coordinated international effort to tackle the growing problem of antibiotic resistance. He backed calls from Lord Jim O'Neill for an international fund to incentivise the the development of not only new antibiotics, but also rapid diagnostic tools to cut unnecessary prescriptions.

To address this need the £10 million Longitude Prize was launched in November 2014, with the aim of encouraging the development of a rapid, accurate, affordable and easy-to-use diagnostic test to work out when antibiotics should be prescribed.

The race continues to find a solution, and we're calling on individuals and organisations around the world to work on new ideas to tackle antibiotic resistance.

Baron Professor Peter Piot, pioneering microbiologist and co-Chair of Longitude Prize Advisory Panel said: "We welcome the Chancellor's support of Lord O'Neill's proposal for a new global mechanism to incentivise all parts of the fight against antimicrobial resistance, including new antibiotics, better stewardship and rapid diagnostics.

The Longitude Prize, part funded by the British Government, is looking for these novel diagnostics to help inform better stewardship of antibiotics. A broader range of innovators encouraged into this space through the Prize would indeed benefit from this fund, and improve the likelihood of their products reaching global communities. 

Substantial investment to incentivise the development of new treatments and diagnostics will pay dividends in the future, saving millions of lives worldwide and improving health outcomes for future generations."