A YORK-BASED charity which is aiming to tackle the 'global health catastrophe' of antibiotic resistance is launching a major new fundraising event.

The Great British Tea Party will be held on the afternoon of November 18 - European Antibiotic Awareness Day - and is set to become an annual activity.

Professor Colin Garner, chief executive of Antibiotic Research UK (ANTRUK), said he hoped the tea party would capture people’s imagination and as many as possible would be held up and down the country.

He said the charity’s immediate task was to raise £250,000 to fund its first research programme to tackle superbugs, which will involve novel work on 'antibiotic resistance breakers.’

Prof Garner, who is honorary professor of pharmacology at the Hull York Medical School, University of York, said: "So far we have secured £18,000 over the last two weeks, from a range of supporters from across the UK. All funds generated from The Great British Tea Party will be devoted to this research initiative."

He said superbugs were fast becoming an increasing problem in hospitals and the community, as bacteria became more and more resistant to existing antibiotics. 

"Dame Sally Davies, the Chief Medical Officer for England, recently said that if we ignore the problem now, our grandchildren will blame us for not acting to address this global issue," he said.

"There is a significant risk that future generations will not enjoy the same benefits of medicine as we do today. All the medical procedures currently taken for granted, for example cancer treatment, open heart surgery, hip and knee replacement and organ transplantation, will become much more perilous."

He added that the charity, with some of the UK’s top antibiotic resistance researchers and scientists behind it, aimed to develop its first new antibiotic therapy by the early 2020s.

It needed to raise up to £30 million in the next five to seven years through a combination of traditional fundraising, corporate sponsorship and giving by trusts and foundations, as well as newer methods such as crowd funding.

For more information, email colin.garner@antibioticresearch.org.uk or go to www.antibioticresearch.org.uk