UK Biotech Receives CARB-X Award Worth $9.2 Million

Procarta Biosystems, a biotech company based in the United Kingdom, has received an award from global non-profit partnership, CARB-X, potentially worth $9.2 million, to be used for the development of antibiotic precision medicines.

In a Sep. 17, 2019 press release, the UK-based biotech revealed that it will be granted an initial non-dilutive funding of $2.2 million through the CARB-X award and with the opportunity of gaining a further $7 million should certain milestones be met. Procarta will use the money to advance its proprietary oligonucleotide-based antimicrobial platform and will specifically target infections caused by Gram-negative ESKAPE (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter species) pathogens.

“This new award from CARB-X recognizes the value of the novel modalities in our pipeline and their potential to precipitate a paradigm shift in antimicrobial treatments,” said Andrew Lightfoot, chief executive officer of Procarta in a press release. “We are delighted to have support from CARB-X recognizing the importance of developing new antibiotics to combat antimicrobial resistance.” 

“This award from CARB-X follows closely on a €1.5-million (US$1.7-million) investment from the Novo Holdings REPAIR Impact Fund. Together, these new funds will be used to progress our lead asset, PRO-202, and to develop our proprietary drug discovery platform to build a pipeline of antimicrobial agents to cover the ESKAPE pathogens,” Lightfoot added.

Source: Procarta Biosystems