Pharma-Backed Fund Makes First Investments in Superbug Fight

(Bloomberg) -- A $1 billion fund backed by some of the world's biggest drugmakers has made its first two investments in a bid to spur the development of new antibiotics and counter the rising threat of superbugs.

The AMR Action Fund, launched in 2020 with the goal of bringing two to four new antibiotics to the market within a decade, said Monday that it has invested in Adaptive Phage Therapeutics Inc. and Venatorx Pharmaceuticals Inc. The fund plans to commit more than $100 million to about five companies this year.

The financing will help address an urgent need for new treatments and fight drug-resistant infections that kill more than 1 million people annually. Those infections could cause as many as 10 million deaths each year by the middle of the century if the problem remains unchecked, costing the global economy $100 trillion, according to estimates cited by the fund.

Many large pharma companies have dropped out of antibacterial research to focus on lucrative fields such as cancer. The fund, supported by more than 20 drugmakers including Eli Lilly & Co., GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis AG and Pfizer Inc., aims to help fill the gap.

But the fund warned its efforts alone won't be enough and called for new policies to reform the market. Among initiatives already underway is the U.K.'s “subscription-style” model that aims to pay companies upfront for antibiotics based on their value to the health system, rather than how much is used.

“The pipeline is simply too thin,” Henry Skinner, the fund's chief executive officer, said in an interview. “The field is struggling, and we need a global approach to fixing the market.”

Sales of new antibiotics are too low for drugmakers to recoup their investments, and public measures to encourage more activity in the sector so far haven't moved the needle. The fund, developed by the industry in collaboration with the World Health Organization, the European Investment Bank and the Wellcome Trust, plans to invest in companies that harness different approaches, hoping to help attract other investors, according to Skinner.

Maryland-based Adaptive Phage Therapeutics said the deal extends its funding to $61 million from $41 million, while Venatorx, located in Pennsylvania, declined to disclose the amount it's receiving.

APT said it relies on a library of naturally occurring viruses called phages that infect and kill bacteria and collectively provide broad coverage against many of the world's top-priority antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The company will use the proceeds to accelerate clinical trials targeting prosthetic-joint infections and diabetic foot osteomyelitis, an infection that spreads into the bone.

Venatorx, meantime, is developing an intravenous product aimed at complicated urinary tract infections, hospital-acquired bacterial pneumonia and ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia.