It has been announced today that Proteus is to receive a grant of £0.9M (USD $1.12M) from a major international initiative designed to accelerate progress in combating antimicrobial resistance.
CARB-X (Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator) have released an official statement from Washington D.C. today, announcing the provision of an initial US$24 million to fund 11 different biomedical projects that focus on the development of both antibacterial treatments and diagnostic technologies. Proteus is the only University-based project, and only one of three based in the UK, to have been accepted into the “powered by CARB-X” portfolio, after beating stiff competition from 168 applicants from across the world.
On top a high-ranking grant recently awarded to the project by the Wellcome Trust, the CARB-X funding will allow a significant step in the progression of the diagnostic technology that is at the forefront of Proteus’ research. CARB-X will fund pre-clinical developments, while the Wellcome Trust will oversee the planned in situ, in vivo clinical trials.
“The rise of antimicrobial resistance is the biggest challenge in modern medicine,” explains Dr Kev Dhaliwal, Clinical Lead for Proteus, who was in attendance at the release along with Postdoctoral Researcher Beth Mills and Clinical Study Manager Annya Smyth. “The support and mentorship from CARB-X will accelerate development of Proteus technology to be ready for clinical use faster and more widely than previously possible.”
Tim Jinks, Head of Drug Resistant Infection at Wellcome Trust, said: “Drug resistant infection is already a huge global health challenge – and it is getting worse. We need global powers to work together on a number of fronts – from the beginning to the end of the drug and diagnostic development pipeline. CARB-X is supporting projects like Proteus to build a robust pipeline of products to fulfil this need.”
Between them, the 11 funded projects highlight 3 potential new classes of small molecule antibiotics, 4 non-traditional products, and 7 new bacterial targets. Stated as a necessity in the application process, each of the methodologies presented in the portfolio are directed towards treating Gram-negative bacteria – a priority stated by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the United Nation’s World Health Organization (WHO), as they are resistant to many types of drug and can lead to infections in the clinical setting such as pneumonia and meningitis.
Read the official CARB-X press release here.
Read the press release from the University of Edinburgh here.
About CARB-X
CARB-X was launched in August 2016 to accelerate pre-clinical product development in the area of antibiotic-resistant infections, one of the world’s greatest health threats. CARB-X was established by BARDA and NIAID of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services along with Wellcome Trust, a global charitable foundation dedicated to improving health. This partnership has committed $450 million in new funds over the next five years to increase the number of antibacterial products in the drug-development pipeline. It reflects a new approach to how antibacterial research and drug development is identified, funded and accelerated to the clinic. The CARB-X goal is to move promising antibacterial candidates through the critical early stages of product development so they can attract additional private or public investment for clinical stage development
CARB-X is a charitable global public-private partnership led by Boston University School of Law. Other partners include the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, MassBio, the California Life Sciences Institute and RTI International.
For more information, please visit www.carb-x.org, and follow them on Twitter @CARB_X.
