Labège, France, 25 July, 2017 – Antabio SAS, a biopharmaceutical company developing novel antibacterial treatments in areas of highest unmet needs, announced today that it has been awarded up to $8.9 million non-dilutive funding from CARB-X, the world’s largest public-private partnership devoted to antibacterial R&D. Antabio 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 $2.8 million with options for up to $8.9 million upon achievement of milestones.
The funding will be used to accelerate the development, up to completion of Phase 1 clinical trials, of Antabio’s novel small molecule drug for the treatment of chronic Pseudomonasinfections in Cystic Fibrosis patients. Cystic Fibrosis is a genetic condition leading to long-term infections and progressive lung damage. The most frequent infection in adult patients is caused by the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA), which grows as biofilm clusters that are resistant to immune clearance and conventional antibiotics. Antabio’s PEI program (Pseudomonas Elastase Inhibitors) powered by CARB-X seeks to develop inhibitors of the PA LasB elastase virulence factor thereby targeting the bacterium’s ability to evade the immune system and cause disease. The objective is to clear PA infections when Antabio’s PEIs are given alongside antibiotics.
“This award enables Antabio to develop a new paradigm in the treatment of infectious disease, i.e. that of targeting the bacterium’s ability to cause disease and evade attack by the immune system and antibiotics. Opening up alternative ways to fight disease is particularly important given the increases in multidrug resistant pathogens and the shortage of new antibiotics” said Martin Everett, CSO of Antabio.
“We are delighted to collaborate with CARB-X on developing our novel Pseudomonas virulence inhibitors that have a clear potential for enhancing eradication of chronic infections in CF sufferers” said Marc Lemonnier, CEO of Antabio. “As a company powered by CARB-X, Antabio will benefit from substantial non-dilutive funding, access to complementary world-class expertise including NIAID pre-clinical services and free technical consulting from RTI International. This new and exciting opportunity builds up on our longstanding strategy of collaborating with leading global players, such as the Wellcome Trust and CARB-X, to accelerate the development of life-saving treatments for drug-resistant infections”.
CARB-X, which stands for 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.
Kevin Outterson, Executive Director of CARB-X and Professor of Law at Boston University said: “Drug-resistant infections are complex and developing new antibiotics challenging, timely and costly. But restoring the R&D pipeline is vital to address the seriously increasing threat of superbugs which have become resistant to existing drugs. This is a global problem and CARB-X is a critical part of the global solution. We are looking to support the best potential new treatments and diagnostics across the world. We are especially pleased that today’s awards mean we are now supporting scientists in 6 countries. The projects offer exciting potential. But we need greater global support from governments, industry and civil society to get the new treatments the world urgently needs.”
About ANTABIO
Antabio is a private biopharmaceutical company developing novel antibacterial resistance-breakers to treat drug-resistant infections in areas of highest unmet medical need. Two of Antabio’s programs have received Wellcome Trust Seeding Drug Discovery Awards to date: (i) a novel, safe and efficacious inhibitor of bacterial metallo ß-lactamases to be combined with a carbapenem for the treatment of drug-resistant nosocomial infections and (ii) a first-in-class inhibitor of Pseudomonas virulence to be co-administered with standard-of-care antibiotics for the long-term management of chronic respiratory infections. The company’s lead product is expected to enter the clinic in 2019 with a fast track to anticipated marketing approval by 2021. Antabio has built a best in class, international team of experts in the field and is currently seeking to raise additional funds to progress its pipeline up to the next value inflection point. The Company is also looking to in-license additional assets focused on Gram-negative antibiotic resistant therapies. Please visit www.antabio.com and follow us on Twitter @antabio
About CARB-X
CARB-X is the world’s largest public-private partnership devoted to antibacterial R&D. Funded by BARDA and Wellcome Trust, with in-kind support from NIAID, we will spend $450 million from 2017-2021 to support innovative products moving towards human clinical trials. CARB-X focuses on high priority drug-resistant bacteria, especially Gram-negatives. 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 us on Twitter @CARB_X.
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