€7.6m by CARB-X dangling for Antabio

From a group of 368 applicants worldwide, Antabio SAS was chosen as one of the first European biotech and pharma companies, to receive funding from CARB-X, the world’s largest public-private partnership devoted to antibacterial R&D. The award provides immediate funding of up to €2.4m with options for a total amount of €7.6m upon achievement of certain milestones. The French biopharmaceutical company will use the funding to accelerate and complete Phase I clinical trials of its drug candidate for the treatment of chronic Pseudomonas infections in cystic fibrosis patients. They develop inhibitors of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa LasB elastase virulence factor, which are given alongside antibiotics that have become ineffective due to emerging resistance. “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“, states Marc Lemonnier, CEO of Antabio.

The CARB-X initiative is an international fund focussing its investments on high priority drug-resistant bacteria, especially Gram-negatives. It was started by US-based Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) in 2016, and is backed by international partners like the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the UK charity Wellcome Trust and AMR centre. Currently, the initiative supports 18 companies in six different countries like Eligochem Ltd. (UK), Iterum Therapeutics (IRL) or Contrafect Corporation (US) and will spend up to US$450m from 2017 till 2021 for antibacterial R&D.