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FIND joins CARB-X Global Accelerator Network to boost diagnostic development in fight against antimicrobial resistance

  • CARB-X Global Accelerator Network supports the development of life-saving antibiotics, rapid diagnostics, and other products to combat drug-resistant superbugs
  • FIND expertise will help CARB-X ensure diagnostic investments have maximum impact globally against antimicrobial resistance (AMR)

Boston, MA, USA & Geneva, Switzerland – 26 February 2019 – The Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) and the Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator (CARB-X) announced today that FIND is joining the CARB-X Global Accelerator Network. The CARB-X Global Accelerator Network now includes 10 organizations, providing business, scientific, and technical expertise and services to CARB-X-funded companies to support their antibacterial research projects.

FIND will play a leading role in supporting CARB-X diagnostic investments around the world, and in supporting new applicants for CARB-X funding for the development of diagnostics. FIND will also be positioned to help companies assess how diagnostic solutions could be used in resource-poor settings. Joining the network enhances FIND’s unique view of the global antimicrobial resistance (AMR) diagnostics pipeline, allowing FIND’s own diagnostic development investments to be strategically aligned with global unmet needs.

It is estimated that 700,000 deaths each year are caused by drug-resistant pathogens; by 2050, if no actions are taken to contain AMR, that figure is predicted to rise to 10 million deaths per year.[1] The economic and human cost of this global health threat will fall disproportionately on low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).[2] Accessible, accurate, and affordable diagnostics play a vital role in strengthening primary healthcare – and thus in supporting universal health coverage and preventing AMR. Antimicrobial resistance is firmly on the global agenda, and at the 2019 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the UK government announced an ambitious new national action plan that includes a commitment to be able to report on the percentage of prescriptions supported by a diagnostic test, or decision support tool by 2024.[3]

“We are expanding our Global Accelerator Network to boost support for the development of new antibiotics, rapid diagnostics and other life-saving products that the world so urgently needs to fight the rise of drug-resistant bacteria. CARB-X’s portfolio is growing rapidly and this global network of accelerators will provide the full range of scientific, technical and business support our projects need to progress and succeed,” said Kevin Outterson, Executive Director of CARB-X and Boston University law professor.

“The CARB-X Global Accelerator Network is a formidable group of organizations with tremendous expertise in their fields,” said Catharina Boehme, CEO of FIND. “Accurate, accessible diagnostics for AMR are urgently needed alongside new antibiotics and vaccines, and we are committed to working with CARB-X and the network to ensure that diagnostic innovation to combat AMR reaches every corner of the world.”

CARB-X funding supports projects that target drug-resistant bacteria highlighted on the CDC’s 2013 Antibiotic Resistant Threats list, or the Priority Bacterial Pathogens list published by the WHO in 2017.

FIND’s contribution to the CARB-X Global Accelerator Network is supported by UK aid from the UK government.

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About FIND
FIND is a global non-profit organization that drives innovation in the development and delivery of diagnostics to combat major diseases affecting the world’s poorest populations. Our work bridges R&D to access, overcoming scientific barriers to technology development; generating evidence for regulators and policy-makers; addressing market failures; and enabling accelerated uptake and access to diagnostics in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Since 2003, we have been instrumental in the delivery of 21 new diagnostic tools used in 150 LMICs. Over 50 million FIND-supported products have been provided to our target markets since the start of 2015. A WHO Collaborating Centre, we work with more than 200 academic, industry, governmental, and civil society partners worldwide, on over 70 active projects that cross six priority disease areas. FIND is committed to a future in which diagnostics underpin treatment decisions and provide the foundation for disease surveillance, control and prevention.

About CARB-X
Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator (CARB-X) is a Boston University global partnership funded by 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 (ASPR), the Wellcome Trust, a global charity based in the UK working to improve health globally, the UK Government’s Global Antimicrobial Resistance Innovation Fund (UK GAMRIF), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with in-kind support from National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). CARB-X is dedicated to accelerating early development antibacterial R&D to address the rising global threat of drug-resistant bacteria. CARB-X is investing more than $500 million from 2016-2021 to support the development of innovative antibiotics and other therapeutics, vaccines, rapid diagnostics, and devices. CARB-X focuses exclusively on high priority drug-resistant bacteria, especially Gram-negatives. CARB-X has built the world’s largest and most innovative pipeline of preclinical products against drug-resistant infections. It is based at Boston University in the School of Law. https://carb-x.org/. Follow us on Twitter @CARB_X.

About the CARB-X Global Accelerator Network
The CARB-X Global Accelerator Network is a network of organizations that provide business, scientific and technical expertise and services to CARB-X-funded companies to support their antibacterial research projects. The Network also plays a key role in addressing common challenges facing the antibacterial product development community. Members of the CARB-X Accelerator Network include BaselArea.swiss, Basel, Switzerland; the BioInnovation Institute (BII), Copenhagen, Denmark; the California Life Sciences Institute (CLSI), South San Francisco, CA, USA; the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP), Bangalore, India; the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND), Geneva, Switzerland; the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Braunschweig, Germany; the Institute for Life Science Entrepreneurship (ILSE), Union, NJ, USA; Massachusetts Biotechnology Council (MassBio), Cambridge, MA, USA; RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA; and Wellcome Trust, London, UK, which is also a CARB-X funding partner.

Media contacts
FIND: Sarah-Jane Loveday, Head of Communications
T: +41 (0) 22 710 27 88
M: +41 (0) 79 431 62 44
media@finddx.org

CARB-X: Jennifer Robinson, CARB-X Communications
M: +1.514.914.8974
carbxpr@bu.edu

 

[1] O’Neill J (chair). Tackling drug-resistant infections globally: final report and recommendations (2016). https://amr-review.org/sites/default/files/160525_Final%20paper_with%20cover.pdf (accessed 28 January 2019)

[2] Adeyi, O et al. Drug-resistant infections: a threat to our economic future (Vol. 2). Final report (English). Washington, D.C.: World Bank Group, 2017. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/323311493396993758/final-report (accessed 28 January 2019)

[3] HM Government. Tackling antimicrobial resistance 2019–2024: the UK’s five-year national action plan (published 24 January 2019) https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/773130/uk-amr-5-year-national-action-plan.pdf (accessed 28 January 2019)