BU-based Antimicrobial Partnership Gets Another $50 Million Plus
Gates Foundation and UK government contributions push CARB-X funding to more than $500 million.
In a sign of the growing recognition of the threat of antibiotic resistance, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the UK government are joining CARB-X (Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator), a BU Law-based public-private partnership launched two years ago by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to give financial, scientific, and business support to small companies focusing on drug-resistant bacteria. The Gates Foundation is committing up to $25 million over three years to support scientific research to develop new vaccines, preventatives, and other antimicrobial products, particularly for health needs in low- and middle-income countries. The UK government, through its Global Antimicrobial Resistance Innovation Fund, is contributing up to $27 million for similar work. CARB-X, which is overseen by executive director Kevin Outterson, a School of Law professor of law and N. Neal Pike Scholar in Health and Disability Law and an expert on pharmaceutical markets, is the world’s leading public-private partnership dedicated to the early development of innovative antibiotics, vaccines, and other products to fight the global threat of superbugs.
The commitments bring to more than $500 million the total funding available to CARB-X for the development of products to protect people from superbug bacterial infections. CARB-X’s existing funding partners include the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of HHS, which has committed $250 million over five years; the Wellcome Trust, a UK-based global charitable organization, which has committed up to $155.5 million over five years; and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases(NIAID), part of the US National Institutes of Health, which has committed $50 million in preclinical services over five years.
“We are in a race against superbugs, and it will take leadership, vision, and sustained effort to keep ahead,” says Outterson. “We are deeply grateful for this new partnership with the UK government and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, building upon the leadership from the US government [BARDA and NIAID] and the Wellcome Trust.”
“The threat of antimicrobial resistance underscores the importance of prevention—which we believe is key to saving lives,” says Sue Desmond-Hellmann, CEO of the Gates Foundation. The Gates funding “will advance the development of vaccines, and novel biologics, including monoclonal antibodies, to avert drug-resistant diseases and protect the lives of children and infants, especially in low- and middle-income countries.”
“Superbugs are already killing hundreds of thousands of people around the world,” says England’s chief medical officer, Sally Davies. “By working together [with the Gates Foundation and CARB-X’s other partners], we will represent a formidable force against this intensifying threat.”
