Autumn statement 2023: Jeremy Hunt pledges £5m for Fleming Centre at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington

Funding has been announced for a new London centre which will tackle antimicrobial resistance.

The Fleming Centre is set to open at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington in 2028, with Prince William as patron.

In his Autumn statement in Parliament, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said: "Because 2028 marks the centenary of the invention of penicillin by Alexander Fleming, I’m giving £5 million to Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust to set up a Fleming Centre to inspire the next generation of world changing innovations.”

Fleming’s original Laboratory is still housed at St Mary's.

According to Imperial College London, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an urgent global public health threat and kills over one million people around the world each year.

It has been caused in part by the widespread misuse and overuse of antibiotics and other antimicrobials, in humans and livestock, which has led to the global spread of drug-resistant microbes.

Chaired by Professor the Lord Darzi of Denham, the Fleming Centre will deliver both research programmes and public exhibitions and engagement activities to educate, inspire and take action.