French biopharmaceutical Mutabilis has identified a lead development candidate in its EBL-1463 program, which recently was awarded funding from CARB-X. The lead candidate was identified with the help of ENABLE, a European drug discovery and development consortium, funded by the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI). The consortium brings together scientists with diverse skills, and offers pharmaceutical industry expert advice and guidance to programmes. ENABLE has provided guidance and support to Mutabilis since 2017 and was instrumental in helping Mutabilis progress the project this far. EBL-1463 is a novel class of non-beta-lactam inhibitor of penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) called dabocins. It kills bacteria in the same efficient way as beta-lactams – by interfering with the cell wall synthesis of the bacteria. Contrary to beta-lactams, however, EBL-1463 shows unmatched stability to class A, B, C and D beta-lactamases. The project is now in the preclinical phase.