Date: 2017-07-25
Type of information: Grant
Company: VenatoRx Pharmaceuticals (USA - PA)
Investors: Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator (CARB - X) (USA - MA)
Amount: up to $ 9.4 million
Funding type: grant
Planned used:
- VenatoRx Pharmaceuticals is working to discover a new class of antibiotic that beats resistance caused by beta-lactamase enzymes.
The company has found a new drug class that kills bacteria by hitting the same cell wall target, but is impervious to beta-lactamase enzymes.
- 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, VenatoRx Pharmaceuticals has been awarded up to $9.4 million non-dilutive funding from CARB-X, the world's largest public-private partnership devoted to antibacterial R&D. The company was selected by CARB-X from a group of 368 applicants worldwide and is part of the first cohort that includes companies from Continental Europe. The award provides immediate funding of up to $3.4 million with options for up to $ 6 million upon achievement of milestones.
- 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
