About the Programme

Decades of under-investment in new drugs and diagnostics mean the world is ill-equipped to respond to the burgeoning challenge posed by infectious diseases, antibiotic resistance, and emerging pandemics.

In response to this challenge, iiCON bridges the gap in the infection innovation ecosystem. A leading global centre for infectious disease R&D based within the North West of England, it brings together industry, academia, and the NHS in a collaborative effort with a clear aim: to save lives globally by accelerating the discovery and development of innovative new treatments, diagnostics, and preventative products for infectious diseases.

iiCON has an exceptional skill base, an understanding of and access to the disruptive technologies needed to bolster the IDT pipeline, and networks with local, national and international stakeholders. The consortium has access to patient populations (and pathways for drug and diagnostic evaluation and implementation) in the UK and across Africa, Asia and South America. It also offers access to the people, skills and supply-chains to support the journey from drug discovery through to manufacturing and delivering vaccines.

Dynamic Ecosystem

Led by founding Director, Professor Janet Hemingway, iiCON comprises leading UK organisations focused on infectious disease R&D, including Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, LifeArc, Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Unilever UK, the University of Liverpool, Evotec, and Infex Therapeutics as part of a c£200 million programme.

Complementary Expertise

The combined infectious diseases, antibiotic and hygiene R&D portfolio of iiCON’s seven partners currently exceeds £2 billion. The expertise of each partner is highly complementary and covers the full spectrum of product discovery, development, manufacture, marketing and impact assessment – representing a concentration of expertise not replicated anywhere else in the UK.

iiCON is part of a dynamic North West eco-system, with world-leading capability across drug discovery, diagnostics and clinical trials, all the way through to biopharmaceutical vaccine manufacturing capability, within one of the largest biopharmaceutical manufacturing clusters in Europe

Collaborative Innovation

Operating across eleven commercially sustainable specialist research platforms, iiCON’s collaborative effort is directly reducing the global burden of infectious disease with a coordinated initiative to address key roadblocks in global R&D pipelines and strengthen and regenerate the global anti-infectives supply chain.

The consortium proactively identifies and engages with the most innovative companies working in the sector globally. iiCON forges long-term collaborative relationships with these organisations and facilitates impactful partnerships that accelerate and enable innovative research and product development – bringing the next generation of game-changing new products to market more quickly, safely, and affordably.