“We share the same goal of accelerating a new pipeline of treatments and diagnostics by working on new drug development programs”.
Advertisement
Antibiotic development is being managed by CARB-X, a new organisation that will rejuvenate the pipeline of anti-microbial drugs and diagnostics and coordinate R&D funding of at least $350m (€315m) over the next five years.
The global partnership will support a suite of products through early preclinical development.
“The North of England has always been a place of innovation and discovery”.
The Department of Health and Human Services will invest $250 million into CARB-X, the initiative to foster development of drugs that will target antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Antibiotic resistance is a growing threat not only in the United States but around the world.
These life-saving drugs are fundamental to modern medicine.
CDC officials said the funding, which will be available starting Monday, will dramatically expand public health officials’ ability to track infections in hospitals and other health care settings, better protect patients and increase coordination among medical providers.
“Our hope is that the combination of technical expertise and life science entrepreneurship experience within CARB-X’s life science accelerators will remove barriers for companies pursuing the development the next novel drug, diagnostic, or vaccine to combat this public health threat”, said Joe Larsen, acting BARDA deputy director. In such a world, even the most simple surgical procedure could have fatal consequences.
BARDA is the agency within HHS that works on national preparedness for chemical and biological threats. A gap exists in the data that a hospital laboratory generates and the data the CDC needs for a response to a broader outbreak of an infectious disease or other public health concern.
“The establishment of CARB-X is a watershed moment”, Hatchett said. The Centre is expected to receive up to $14 million in matched funding from CARB-X in year one – and $100 million in total over the next five years. “Creating an economic incentive where they can tap in to capital to get these products developed and also access some expertise has the potential to have a real impact”.
Advertisement
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Biomedical Advanced Research Authority (BARDA) will participate in the alliance for the USA, while the Wellcome Trust and AMR Centre are spearheading the effort for the U.K. Kevin Outterson, a leading health law researcher worldwide, will lead the Carb-X executive team and serve as the alliance’s principal investigator. Two U.S. non-profit life science accelerators – Massachusetts Biotechnology Council in Cambridge, Massachusetts (MassBio), and the California Life Sciences Institute (CLSI) of South San Francisco, California, will provide support for early-stage antibiotic development projects.
