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ARTICLE | Company News

IMI launches antibiotic research program

May 25, 2012 1:19 AM UTC

The EU's Innovative Medicines Initiative launched the NewDrugs4BadBugs grant program to fund development of new antibiotics against antibiotic-resistant bacteria, including products from GlaxoSmithKline plc (LSE:GSK; NYSE:GSK) and AstraZeneca plc (LSE:AZN; NYSE:AZN). The program will initially support Phase II and III trials of GSK's GSK1322322, an antibacterial agent that inhibits peptide deformylase function. IMI will provide EUR 88 million ($112.4 million), with an additional in-kind contribution of EUR 103.7 million ($132.4 million) from industry partners. An additional EUR 3 million ($3.8 million) from IMI and EUR 5 million ($6.4 million) from industry will be available for projects to improve the efficiency of antibiotic clinical trials.

IMI also plans to support the development at a later date of two products from AstraZeneca: MEDI4893, a mAb targeting Staphylococcus aureus alpha toxin, and AZD9773, a polyclonal sheep antibody fragment against tumor necrosis factor (TNF) alpha. AZD9773 is in Phase II testing, while MEDI4893 is in early stage development. IMI expects to provide EUR 92 million ($117.5 million), with an additional in-kind contribution of EUR 276 million ($352.4 million) from industry. ...