Cepheid and the Fleming Initiative

Protecting the Future of Antimicrobials

Antimicrobial resistance is a global health challenge. Addressing it requires more than scientific innovation alone. It requires coordinated action across research, clinical practice, policy, industry, and the public. Cepheid is partnering with the Fleming Initiative to advance the role of diagnostics in the global response to antimicrobial resistance, helping translate innovation into practical solutions that support better clinical decisions, stronger antimicrobial stewardship, and improved patient outcomes.

The Challenge

What is antimicrobial resistance?

Antimicrobial resistance, or AMR, occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other microbes evolve so that the medicines used to treat them no longer work. As resistance spreads, infections become harder to treat. The medicines that help make surgery, cancer treatment, intensive care, and many other areas of modern medicine safer are also losing their effectiveness.

AMR is not only a scientific or clinical challenge. It is a global, system-level challenge that requires collaboration, evidence, public engagement, informed policy, and the ability to turn innovation into meaningful change. Progress remains uneven and fragile, reinforcing the need to bring partners, expertise, and resources together.

A simple horizontal pathway:

The Partnership

What is the Fleming Initiative?

The Fleming Initiative is a global collaboration led by Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare National Health Service (NHS) Trust , that brings together clinicians, scientists, policymakers, industry, and the public to break down silos and drive coordinated action towards AMR solutions. ​

Its work is organized around three connected areas:

• Public Engagement, Involvement and Behaviour Change
  Engaging people and communities in the AMR response and supporting the changes in awareness and behaviour needed to preserve antimicrobials.
• Science and Innovation
  Harnessing the newest innovations to better interpret and utilise complex data and develop novel treatments and interventions.
• Informed Policy
  Developing and implementing novel policy measures to decrease antimicrobial resistance.
  
  Visit the Fleming Initiative
  

Why was the Fleming Initiative established?

AMR crosses disciplines, sectors, institutions, and national borders. No single organization, institution or discipline can address it alone. The Fleming Initiative was established to:

• Convene partners, expertise, and resources
• Accelerate the transformation of innovation into impact
• Help scale solutions across sectors
   

Its goal is to protect global populations from antimicrobial resistance by connecting scientific innovation with public engagement, behavioural change, and informed policy.

Il ruolo della diagnostica

How can diagnostics help?

Antimicrobial resistance makes infections harder to identify and harder to treat. Diagnostics provide the information healthcare professionals need to understand what they are treating, and to act on it sooner. Used at the right moment in the care pathway, diagnostics can turn uncertainty into evidence and support decisions that protect both the individual patient and the effectiveness of antimicrobials.

Where diagnostics make a difference:

• Faster, more informed clinical decisions
  Rapid molecular testing can shorten the time between suspicion and answer. Where culture-based methods can take up to 48 hours, results available in around an hour can support earlier treatment decisions, including the selection of the right antibiotic.
• Stronger antimicrobial stewardship
  Test results help distinguish patients who need antimicrobials from those who do not and help guide the choice of treatment. This supports more appropriate antimicrobial use and helps preserve the effectiveness of the medicines.
• Better infection prevention and control
  Earlier identification of resistant organisms, such as carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales, can enable faster isolation decisions and may help reduce transmission within hospitals.
• Evidence for policy and practice
  Diagnostic data generates real-world evidence on how testing influences clinical decisions, patient flow, and outcomes. That evidence can inform screening strategies, healthcare policy, and surveillance of resistance patterns.
• Improved patient outcomes and system efficiency
  Timely, accurate results can support shorter delays to appropriate treatment, reduced onward transmission, and more efficient use of hospital resources.
   

Diagnostics as an intervention, not just a test

Diagnostics are often viewed simply as tools for identifying infection. In the AMR response they act as interventions in their own right, shaping treatment, stewardship, infection control, and surveillance decisions. This is the perspective Cepheid brings to its partnership with the Fleming Initiative: no antibiotic without a diagnostic.

Explore the role of diagnostics in the AMR response

Why Cepheid Joined

The essential role of diagnostics

Cepheid became the first diagnostics company to partner with the Fleming Initiative in 2024. Cepheid joined the collaboration to contribute diagnostic expertise, strengthen antimicrobial stewardship, and support faster, evidence-based clinical decision-making.

Diagnostics can provide information that helps healthcare professionals make informed decisions about patient management and infection prevention. By supporting faster detection and stronger evidence generation, diagnostics can contribute to more effective antimicrobial stewardship and help healthcare systems respond to resistant infections.

Cepheid’s goal

Through the partnership, Cepheid aims to support diagnostic-driven antimicrobial stewardship, enabling:

• Faster detection
• Better clinical decisions
• Reduced transmission
• Improved patient outcomes

How the Partnership Works

Turning collaboration into action

Cepheid and the Fleming Initiative bring together complementary expertise in diagnostics, clinical research, science, policy, public engagement, and healthcare practice. The partnership is intended to help move promising ideas from innovation to real-world impact..

• The collaboration supports four interconnected priorities:
• Generate real-world evidence;
• Evaluate how rapid diagnostics may influence clinical decisions, patient flow, infection prevention, and hospital transmission in real healthcare settings;
• Strengthen antimicrobial stewardship;
• Support timely, evidence-based decisions that can contribute to more appropriate antimicrobial use and improved patient management.

Connect science with policy and practice

Generate evidence that informs healthcare strategies and supports the translation of diagnostic innovation into clinical practice.

Build understanding and engagement

Use expert perspectives, educational content, public engagement, and collaboration to raise awareness of AMR and the role diagnostics play in the response.

The TRACE-CPE Study

Transforming the Detection and Prevention of Resistant Infections

TRACE-CPE is a real-world NHS study delivered through the Fleming Initiative and Cepheid partnership. It is evaluating the use of rapid diagnostics to detect carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales, or CPE.

The research is led by Dr. Jonathan Otter, Director of Infection Prevention and Control at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and Principal Investigator for TRACE-CPE, and Dr. Damien Ming, Science and Innovation Pillar Lead at the Fleming Initiative and an honorary consultant in infectious diseases at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.

Learn more about the TRACE-CPE Study

Why focus on CPE?

Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales are resistant to last-resort antibiotics and can spread silently between patients. They can lead to severe infections, longer hospital stays, increased mortality, and higher healthcare costs.

Detecting CPE colonisation or infection using culture-based methods can take up to 48 hours. Such delays impact infection-control decisions, increase the risk of hospital transmission, and delay appropriate treatment decisions, including the selection of the right antibiotics.

What is the study assessing?

TRACE-CPE compares rapid molecular testing, with a stated turnaround time of approximately one hour, to standard culture-based testing.

The study is assessing the impact on:

• Clinical decisions
• Patient flow
• Prevenzione delle infezioni
• Hospital transmission
   

The research includes up to 16.000 tests across two large tertiary London teaching NHS hospitals.

Why TRACE-CPE matters

Earlier identification of CPE may enable faster isolation and support infection-prevention decisions. The study is also examining whether rapid molecular testing can reduce hospital transmission, improve patient outcomes, and save costs.

By generating real-world evidence, TRACE-CPE is intended to inform NHS screening strategies for CPE.

Explore the Partnership

Featured research and partnership updates

TRACE-CPE: Rapid Testing for Drug-Resistant Infections

Learn how the Fleming Initiative and Cepheid are evaluating rapid molecular screening for CPE in real-world NHS settings.

Read the Study Announcement

Cepheid and the Fleming Initiative Join Forces Against AMR

Discover why Cepheid partnered with the Fleming Initiative and how the collaboration aims to advance diagnostics, evidence, and antimicrobial stewardship.

Read the Partnership Story

Diagnostics Intervention: Reframing the AMR Response Through Value and Access

Explore why diagnostics should be viewed not simply as tools for identifying infection, but as interventions that can support patient care, stewardship, surveillance, and healthcare decision-making.

Read the Article

Antimicrobial Resistance in Children: Why Diagnostics and Education Matter

Explore the challenges AMR presents in paediatric care and the importance of diagnostics and education in supporting an effective response.

Read the Article

Lessons from the DxAMR Collaborative Regional Convening in Brazil

Read Cepheid’s perspectives from a regional convening focused on advancing access to diagnostics and strengthening the role of diagnostics in the AMR response.

Explore the Key Takeaways

Expert Perspectives

Hear from the people advancing the AMR response

Anne Beaubrun - Vice President, Value & Access, Cepheid

Anne Beaubrun works across diagnostics, public health, and global health policy. Her Fleming Initiative communications focus on access to high-quality diagnostics, evidence-based decision-making, and the role of diagnostics in patient care, AMR surveillance, and antimicrobial stewardship.

Recommended featured content:

Podcast : Rethinking the Role of Diagnostics in the AMR Response
External podcast featuring Anne Beaubrun
Article: Diagnostics Intervention: Reframing the AMR Response Through Value and Access
Newsletter: Diagnostics as an Intervention:Turning AMR Commitments into Action

Ephraim Tsalik - Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer, Infectious Disease & Acute Care, Danaher

Ephraim Tsalik is a physician-scientist working across clinical medicine, infectious diseases, and applied research. His Fleming Initiative communications bring a clinical perspective to Cepheid’s AMR work, including how timely and accurate diagnostics can support patient care and responsible antibiotic use.

Recommended featured content:

Podcast: Expert Interview: How diagnostics, screening, and collaboration are shaping the response to AMR
Article: Advancing the AMR Response: Why Diagnostics, Collaboration, and Action Matter
Newsletter: Diagnostics as an Intervention:Turning AMR Commitments into Action
Leadership Perspective:  AMR Isn't a Science Problem. It's a Systems Problem

Partnership News

Partnership announcement
Pharmaphorum
Medical Device Network
360Dx
Clinical Lab Products
The Journal of Healthcare Contracting
Pathology in Practice

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From innovation to impact

Protecting the future effectiveness of antimicrobials will require sustained collaboration across science, clinical practice, policy, public engagement, and industry.

Through its partnership with the Fleming Initiative, Cepheid is contributing diagnostic expertise and helping generate evidence to strengthen antimicrobial stewardship, inform clinical and screening strategies, and translate innovation into practical impact.