The Infection Innovation Consortium (iiCON) has created 176 jobs and raised over £150 million in funding since its launch one year ago.
Launched in September 2020 in the North West of the UK, iiCON set about establishing itself as a global centre for infectious disease R&D.
The collaborative R&D programme is led by Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. It aims to reduce the global burden of infectious disease – saving and improving millions of lives by working with industry, academia and clinicians to accelerate the discovery, development and deployment of new treatments and products for patients and communities.
In the last year, iiCON has launched collaborative partnerships with over 186 UK SMEs and start-ups alongside projects with global industry giants including Pfizer and Unilever. The consortium has also invested £9.4 million in local capacity and workforce development.
iiCON’s founding Director, Professor Janet Hemingway CBE, said: “iiCON was founded in response to the formidable global challenge posed by infectious diseases, antimicrobial resistance, and emerging pandemics. Since our launch in 2020, the consortium’s model of partnership-led co-innovation has enabled a remarkable impact both in terms of driving forward innovation and bringing new products to market, but also in shaping health policy at a regional, national, and global level - saving and improving millions of lives.
“Poorly-resourced SMEs are our primary wellspring of innovation in new antimicrobial development. Identifying, supporting and connecting the most innovative of these companies with appropriate expertise, infrastructure, and financial backing to navigate the high-cost and high-risk product development journey and accelerate new products to market is at the heart of our vision. “We’re delighted to have forged strong partnerships with organisations across the globe, brokered impactful collaborations, supported companies of all sizes, and enabled access to world-class expertise and infrastructure to ensure products are accelerated from discovery to market and reach patients and communities quickly, safely, and affordably.”
Last year saw iiCON accelerate the development of new treatments and preventions for Covid-19 and other infectious diseases. The organisation validated the first Covid-19 lateral flow test for asymptomatic, pre-symptomatic and symptomatic people.
Other contributions to the global Covid-19 effort include co-developing a new model organoid that replicates the impact of Covid-19 on the lungs more accurately than traditional plate bioassays, with the UK SME Newcells BioTech.
Over the next 12 months, iiCON partner Infex Therapeutics Therapeutics is expecting to progress two novel therapeutics to tackle dangerous multi-drug resistant microbial infections into clinical trials.
iiCON has also used its work to influence international health policy. For instance, an iiCON trial testing efficacy of mosquito nets treated with insecticide/synergist combinations has shaped the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) recommendations for malaria prevention.
Professor David Lalloo, director Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, said: “iiCON has had an incredible first year. As lead partner, we’re delighted with the programme’s impact in enabling collaboration and driving forward world-changing innovation in infection research and development that will ultimately help to save and improve the lives of millions of people. “Partnership and co-innovation are absolutely critical if we are to meet the global challenge posed by infectious diseases and emerging pandemics. The consortium’s growth speaks to the scale of the need - it has never been more important that the global community work together to support innovation, strengthen our anti-infectives pipeline, and bolster our response to emerging pandemics and resistant infections.
“Over the last 12 months, iiCON has firmly established itself as a leading global centre for infection innovation and this is just the beginning of the journey. iiCON has a vital role to play in supporting the discovery and development of the game-changing products and treatments of tomorrow, and we’re incredibly excited about what the future holds for the programme.”
Dr Peter Jackson, executive director of Infex Therapeutics, said: “Collaborating to nurture and drive innovation to tackle the global threat of infectious disease is at the heart of iiCON’s purpose. As a core partner, we’re delighted to see the consortium fulfilling this ambition and delivering such significant impact across a number of varied global projects and programmes in its first year. “With iiCON’s collaborative support and funding, Infex is expecting to progress two novel therapeutics to tackle dangerous multi-drug resistant infections into clinical trials over the next year. Both our treatments address infections that are a key threat to global health and our involvement with iiCON has accelerated these novel therapies to clinical trial stage – ultimately helping to expedite the journey of these much[1]needed new treatments to patients.
“We look forward to seeing the consortium continue to play an important role in the global infectious disease landscape – saving lives by supporting the discovery and development of the pioneering treatments and products of the future.”