Funding: ENABLE goes pre-clinical

In the era of antimicrobial resistance, there is a strong need for new medicines to treat infections with Gram-negative bacteria. With the “New Drugs for Bad Bugs” programme, the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) is tackling this challenge. Among the different projects, the “European Gram-Negative Antibacterial Engine” (ENABLE) was launched in February 2014 to set-up an antibacterial drug discovery platform. Supported by €100m in funding for six years, the consortium, including partners from Big Pharma, biopharmaceutical SMEs and academia, aims to develop promising antibacterial programmes from hit or lead through preclinical discovery and Phase I clinical trials. Currently, ENABLE has four active programmes in its platform. “We are now planning for the first programmes to enter pre-clinical studies and we are looking for partners with expertise and capabilities in non-clinical development”, Anders Karlén, Professor in Computer-aided Drug Design at Uppsala University and Managing Coordinator of ENABLE, reported during the Berlin Conference “Novel Antimicrobials”, which takes place today in the British Embassy in the German capital. 

By 2019, the ENABLE project is aiming to complete phase I clinical trial for at least one novel anti-bacterial for systemic Gram-negative infections. “Within the new call for partners, a total budget of €800,000 per programme is available for conducting the necessary non-clinical work. “We would like to welcome eligible partners to apply and accept up to 3 partners to together provide the whole spectrum of capabilities required”, Karlén said. The application deadline for the call is March 24, 2017 (more information). ENABLE is also still open for new partners that have promising early stage Gram-negative anti-infective programmes in their portfolio. Submission of an Expression of Interest is possible at any time.