Stephan Sieber Awarded € 1 Million Future Insight Prize 2020 by Merck - Seite 2

"I would like to accept the Future Insight Prize on behalf of my entire research group," said Sieber. "The award will open up many new opportunities for us." One such aim is to optimize PK150, and the next phase of the research will turn to the clinical development of PK150.

According to current estimates by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA), 700,000 deaths per year are attributable to antibiotic-resistant bacteria. In its worst-case scenario, the IFPMA anticipates up to 10 million deaths per year by 2050. Merck has joined forces with other pharmaceutical companies in support of the AMR Action Fund. With nearly US$ 1 billion in venture capital at its disposal and under the leadership of the IFPMA, this initiative aims to help biotech companies develop two to four new antibiotics and make them available to patients by the end of the decade.

Merck supports scientists and young researchers

With the Johann Anton Merck Award, presented for the very first time this year, Merck aims to honor outstanding pre-clinical research in the fields of oncology and autoimmunity. Prof. Caroline Dive (58) of the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, Manchester, United Kingdom, accepted the € 30,000 award.

"Caroline Dive is a globally renowned scientist whose work on circulating tumor cells and liquid biopsies revolutionized the way we diagnose cancer," said Belén Garijo, member of the Executive Board of Merck and CEO Healthcare. "We are very pleased to recognize her as the first Johann Anton Merck Award recipient and look forward to collaborating together to help advance science in oncology."

Prof. Dive and her team of around 100 at the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, University of Manchester, United Kingdom, are conducting pre-clinical oncological research into biomarkers to inform cancer patient treatment. One focus of her work is lung cancer and its management using liquid biopsies. Specifically, she studies tumour cells circulating in a patient's blood – a method that could dispense with the need for tissue samples to diagnose cancers and in 2017 she was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her services to cancer research.