Scientists at ex AstraZeneca site join Obama’s $350m antibiotic effort
The Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria (CARB) initiative was launched in 2015 with the aim of slowing the spread of bacterial resistance and speeding up the development of new antibiotics.
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.
Earlier today the Antimicrobial Resistance Centre (AMR) - a public private based at Alderley Park site in Cheshire – said it would take part in the research.
The organisation said it expects to receive up to $14m in matched funding from CARB-X in year one - and $100m in total over the next five years adding that the Wellcome Trust will also contribute funding,
Peter Jackson, steering group chairman of the AMR Centre, said: “The creation of CARB-X is one of the most important steps yet in terms of rethinking how we deal with AMR and the partnership will have an impact around the world.”
“We share the same goal of accelerating a new pipeline of treatments and diagnostics by working on new drug development programs.
“We will do this in our own labs as well as in collaboration with other organisations, in particular providing support to small and medium-sized businesses and research institutes which have exciting new approaches to AMR.”
CARB-X will start reviewing applications to determine the most promising products to fund in September.
According to CARB-X “decisions will be made by its Scientific Advisory Board with input from the agencies, including BARDA and NIAID, and the partners, including the AMR Centre and the Wellcome Trust.”
The Alderly Park site was sold by AstraZeneca to Manchester Science Parks – a public-private partnership – in 2014.
