CARB-X will invest up to US$15m for German AMR projects

CARB-X will invest up to US$15m for German AMR projects

  • 02/12/2020

CARB-X announced the investment of first grants to two German research teams from the German Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research that are developing novel antibiotics to fight AMR.

CARB-X is awarding up to US$1.33 million to a German team of researchers at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) and the Lead Discovery Center GmbH (LDC) to develop a potent first-in-class drug to treat Staphylococcus aureus infections and thereby prevent exacerbation of life-threatening pneumonia. The research team could be eligible for an additional $7.44 million from CARB-X if the project progresses and achieves certain milestones.

The drug is a small-molecule inhibitor of the S. aureus α-hemolysin, a virulence factor responsible for the bacterium’s pathogenicity and ability to cause infection and disease. The drug would disarm the pathogen’s most important toxin that causes damage to lung tissue and immune cells.  In doing so, the infection would be halted until the immune system, antibiotic or other therapy eliminates the harmful bacteria. Please find more information here

In addition, CARB-X has awarded up to $6.31 million to another team of HZI researchers. The award went to the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS) in Saarbrücken, Germany, to develop an innovative treatment for Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections in cystic fibrosis patients. In a first step, CARB-X is providing up to US$1.75 million to the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS) in Saarbrücken, Germany, to develop an innovative treatment for Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections in cystic fibrosis patients. The project could be eligible for up to $4.56 million more in awards if project milestones are met. The new treatment – indirect-acting small-molecule inhibitors of Elastase (LasB) – aims to disarm pathogens and suppress the disease-causing properties of P. aeruginosabacteria, instead of killing the bacteria as an antibiotic would aim to do. Please find more information here