White House unveils antibiotics plan
The White House outlined its five-year National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria, which includes measures to slow the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria and advance the development of antibiotic drugs, vaccines and diagnostics. NIH, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and the U.S. Department of Defense will allocate funding to projects aimed at developing rapid diagnostics and antibiotic drug candidates.
Over the next five years, NIH and BARDA will establish a consortium of academic and industry partners that will aim to identify at least five targets for novel therapeutics, generate at least three preclinical antibiotic drug candidates and move at least two candidates through IND submission. The White House's timeline also calls for one NIH- or BARDA-funded diagnostic to be submitted to FDA for approval or clearance by 2020, and for government-funded genomic data, proteomic data and other datasets related to antibiotic resistance to be made publicly available in a way that preserves privacy. ...