Antibiotics discovered at The University of Queensland will be fast-tracked under a $A16 million international research deal.
An agreement with CARB-X, a global non-profit partnership funding the world’s largest antibacterial development pipeline, initially provides UQ’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB) with up to $A5.6 million to develop a new antibiotic, and a further $A10.3 million as project milestones are passed.
Project leader Professor Matt Cooper said the new antibiotic, Octapeptin-X (OPX), would target the most dangerous drug-resistant bacteria that evade all current therapies.
The project is led by Boston University and funding is provided by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) in the US Department of Health and Human Services, the Wellcome Trust, a global charity based in the UK working to improve health globally, Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the UK Department of Health and Social Care’s Global Antimicrobial Resistance Innovation Fund (GAMRIF), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and with in-kind support from National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).
