The Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Action Fund announced last week that it has added two more companies to its investment portfolio.
The recipients of the latest round of funding are Vedanta Biosciences, whose lead candidate is a microbiome-directed therapy for recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection (rCDI), and diagnostics company Pattern Bioscience, which is developing a diagnostics platform to rapidly identify bacterial pathogens and determine their antibiotic susceptibility.
Established in 2020 and backed by some of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies and other stakeholders, the AMR Action Fund plans to invest $1 billion in small- and mid-size biotech companies over the decade, with the aim of bring two to four new antibiotics to market by 2030.
The money from the AMR Action Fund is part of the $106.5 million raised by Vedanta to support pivotal-stage development of VE303, a defined bacterial consortium consisting of eight non-pathogenic, non-toxic commensal strains of Clostridia. Recently published results of a phase 2 trial found that high doses of VE303 prevented rCDI compared with placebo. The investment will help fund a phase 3 trial.
"Our Phase 2 clinical data and this new funding enable us to continue advancing the microbiome field beyond products made from fecal donations, and towards pharmaceutical-grade, defined medicines," Vedanta co-founder and CEO Bernatt Olle, PhD, said in a company press release.
Our Phase 2 clinical data and this new funding enable us to continue advancing the microbiome field.
Pattern Biosciences says it will use the $28.7 million raised from the AMR Action Fund and others to complete development of a rapid phenotypic test platform based on single-cell analysis of microorganisms combined with machine learning. The company's first test, which was granted Breakthrough Device Designation by the US Food and Drug Administration, will be for patients hospitalized with pneumonia.
"We believe our technology will significantly impact patient outcomes and help tackle the growing challenge of antibiotic resistance," Pattern Biosciences co-founder and CEO Nick Arab said in a company press release.
Our technology will significantly impact patient outcomes and help tackle the growing challenge of antibiotic resistance.