Kevin Outterson Guides Global Effort to Combat Antibiotic-Resistant Superbugs

$350 million aimed at new antibiotics and rapid diagnostics.

Antibiotics are a cornerstone of modern medicine, saving hundreds of millions of lives around the world since the discovery of penicillin in 1928. Today, however, emerging antibiotic-resistant superbugs are outstripping the supply of new drugs to treat deadly bacterial infections. The lack of financial reward has led the pharmaceutical industry to all but abandon the development of new antibiotics. Both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization have identified antibiotic resistance as one of the greatest threats to public health worldwide.

As part of its sweeping effort to tackle the problem, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced on July 28, 2016, that it has selected the Boston University School of Law—and Kevin Outterson, BU professor of law—to lead a novel $350 million trans-Atlantic public-private partnership to spur the preclinical development of new antibiotics and antimicrobial rapid diagnostics and vaccines. The partnership is called Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator, or CARB-X.

Read the full BU Today story here.