Date: 2017-07-25
Type of information: Grant
Company: Achaogen (USA - CA)
Investors: Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator (CARB - X) (USA - MA)
Amount: up to $ 11.5 million
Funding type: grant
Planned used:
- Achaogen is developing a new class of antibiotics that inhibit LpxC, an essential enzyme unique to Gram-negative bacteria. Achaogen’s lead LpxC inhibitor has the potential to treat infections due to multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, one of the drug-resistant bacteria on the World Health Organization’s top priority list, and positively impact the excess morbidity and mortality in affected patients. Funding under CARB-X will support Achaogen in advancing their lead LpxC inhibitor through initial Phase 1 clinical trials, with the potential to bring a new class of antibiotic with activity focused on Gram-negative infections to patients for the first time in decades.
- In February 2017, WHO published its first ever list of antibiotic-resistant "priority pathogens" – a catalogue of 12 families of bacteria that pose the greatest threat to human health. The list was drawn up in a bid to guide and promote research and development (R&D) of new antibiotics, as part of WHO’s efforts to address growing global resistance to antimicrobial medicines. The list highlights in particular the threat of gram-negative bacteria that are resistant to multiple antibiotics. The WHO list is divided into three categories according to the urgency of need for new antibiotics: critical, high and medium priority.
- – Priority 1: CRITICAL
- Acinetobacter baumannii, carbapenem-resistant
- Pseudomonas aeruginosa, carbapenem-resistant
- Enterobacteriaceae, carbapenem-resistant, ESBL-producing
- – Priority 2: HIGH
- Enterococcus faecium, vancomycin-resistant
- Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-resistant, vancomycin-intermediate and resistant
- Helicobacter pylori, clarithromycin-resistant
- Campylobacter spp., fluoroquinolone-resistant
- Salmonellae, fluoroquinolone-resistant
- Neisseria gonorrhoeae, cephalosporin-resistant, fluoroquinolone-resistant
- – Priority 3: MEDIUM
- Streptococcus pneumoniae, penicillin-non-susceptible
- Haemophilus influenzae, ampicillin-resistant
- Shigella spp., fluoroquinolone-resistant
Others:
- • On July 25, 2017, Achaogen has been awarded up to $ 11.5 million non-dilutive funding from CARB-X, the world's largest public-private partnership devoted to antibacterial R&D.
- The project was selected from among 368 applications from around the world.
- CARB-X (Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator) is backed by the US Government – through the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) - and the UK charity Wellcome Trust. It was launched in July 2016 to address the gap in antibiotic research and development and innovations to improve diagnosis and treatment of drug-resistant infections. CARB-X will spend up to $455 million from 2017-2021 to support innovative products from 'hit-to-lead' stage through to Phase 1 clinical trials. CARB-X focuses on high priority drug-resistant bacteria, especially Gram-negatives. This charitable global public-private partnership is led by Boston University.
Therapeutic area: Infectious diseases
Is general: Yes
