CARB-X Awards Seres Therapeutics $2.5M to Develop a Microbiome to Prevent Bacterial Infections
The company may receive $3.1M more if certain milestones are met to to prevent serious bacterial infections and graft versus host disease in transplant patients.
CARB-X is backing Seres Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:MCRB) of Cambridge, Mass., in the development of a promising pre-clinical microbiome therapeutic to prevent serious bacterial infections and graft versus host disease in patients following solid organ and allogeneic stem cell transplantation. The initial award provides Seres up to $2.5 million with the possibility of up to $3.1 million more if certain project milestones are achieved.
“The Seres SER-155 microbiome-based project is an innovative approach that could potentially protect patients from bacterial infections and save lives,” said Kevin Outterson, BU Law professor and executive director of CARB-X, the world’s leading non-profit partnership dedicated to accelerating the early development of antibiotics, diagnostics and other products to treat deadly infections. “The projects in the Powered by CARB-X portfolio are in the early stages of research, and there is always a high risk of failure. But if successful, these projects, including SER-155, hold exciting potential in the fight against the deadliest bacteria.”
“We are delighted to have obtained the support of CARB-X, which is a further testament to the potential of microbiome therapeutics in diverse areas of medicine. The spread of drug-resistant bacterial infections is an urgent public health concern and new approaches are desperately needed,” said David Cook, PhD, chief scientific officer and executive vice president of research at Seres. “Published clinical data by our collaborators, Dr. Eric Pamer and Dr. Marcel van den Brink at Memorial Sloan Kettering, demonstrate that the risk of both infection, and graft versus host disease, is linked to the health of the gastrointestinal microbiome. We believe these data provide a strong rationale to further develop SER-155 for these seriously ill patients, and we look forward to advancing the program into clinical development.”
The human microbiome—the network of trillions of bacteria that live in healthy bodies—plays a vital role in keeping us healthy, including providing resistance to pathogens, regulation of immune function and contributing to energy metabolism. When a healthy microbiome is disrupted or damaged by antibiotic use, inflammation or other forces, individuals become more vulnerable to disease and re-infection, including serious life-threatening drug-resistant infections. The SER-155 project is under pre-clinical investigation to determine if it can rebuild the damaged gut microbiome, restoring its resistance to drug-resistant bacteria and improving patient outcomes.
World’s largest and most scientifically diverse portfolio
The CARB-X portfolio is the world’s largest and most scientifically diverse portfolio of early development projects to treat serious drug-resistant bacterial infections and other difficult-to-treat infections. CARB-X, which stands for Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator, currently funds projects in six countries and is working to expand its pipeline with the best science from around the world.
CARB-X is a partnership between the UK charity Wellcome Trust and the US Department of Health and Human Services Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). CARB-X is actively seeking global support from other governments, industry and civil society to expand its ability to fund the best science around the world to get the new life-saving treatments so urgently needed. The World Health Organization estimates that 700,000 people die each year as a result of drug-resistant bacterial infections.
BARDA’s Director Rick Bright, PhD, said: “The support announced today will help speed development of a new antibacterial product with the potential to treat patients with life-threatening infections. Antibiotic resistant infections not only pose a day-to-day public health concern but also complicate our response to national security threats, which is why at BARDA we working to revitalize the antibacterial pipeline. Today’s announcement is another example of our commitment to promote and accelerate medical countermeasure innovation through novel public-private partnerships like CARB-X.”
Tim Jinks, head of drug-resistant infections at Wellcome Trust, said: “Wellcome is committed to addressing this urgent global health threat. The rapid spread of drug-resistant infections threatens to undermine modern medicine. Effective treatments against infections are a vital part of many routine and complex, life-saving operations, such as transplants. It’s vital we speed discovery of new and innovative treatments so doctors can continue to safely carry out these procedures. The addition of this exciting project to the CARB-X portfolio is the first step in achieving this. Incentives to promote new product development must go hand-in-hand with concerted action to ensure responsible use of antibiotics and availability of new healthcare tools for patients in all countries.”
Additionally, the CARB-X partnership leverages NIAID’s long-standing preclinical services program established to facilitate product development for new drugs, vaccines and diagnostics. This particular project is representative of the innovative new types of strategies encouraged by NIAID in recent years.
CARB-X funding is part of an overall commitment of up to US$455m by the US government and Wellcome Trust over a five-year period from 2016 to 2021. So far this year, including the Seres award, CARB-X has announced 24 grants totaling $60 million to help fund projects, plus an additional $75.25 million if project milestones are met. These funds are in addition to investments by the companies. Responsible use of existing antibiotics and equitable access, particularly in low-income countries where need is greatest, is also vital to address the global health problem. Both are a condition of CARB-X funding.
CARB-X’s role is to identify and fund promising early research in antibiotics, vaccines and rapid diagnostics to treat the most serious bacterial infections. The goal is to support projects through the early phases so that they will attract additional private or public support for clinical development.
CARB-X expects to make further funding announcements later this year. Click here for more CARB-X news.