CARB-X and its leaders welcome seasoned pharmaceutical expert to serve in key governance role
(BOSTON: March 9, 2023) – With unanimous approval, CARB-X’s governing body, the Joint Oversight Board (JOB), voted to appoint Dan Burgess, AB, MBA, as the first Independent Chair of the JOB. The JOB oversees the strategy, scope and budget of CARB-X. The new role of independent chair further strengthens CARB-X governance and brings an industry voice and perspective to the international partnership.
Burgess is currently Chairman and CEO of Pulmocide Ltd., a late clinical-stage anti-fungal company and was previously CEO of two antibiotic companies that achieved successful exits (Rempex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Mpex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.) He is also a Venture Partner at SV Health Investors and a director of several public and private biotech companies, including the anti-infective companies Cidara Therapeutics, Nabriva Therapeutics, Arbutus and Qpex Biopharma. In these roles, he has been directly involved in developing new drugs from early-stage discovery through to commercialization and has been active in working with other industry leaders to improve the economic ecosystem for new anti-infectives.
“In providing CARB-X oversight, Dan will be drawing on his significant experience as an antimicrobial developer in the pharmaceutical industry and understanding of the challenges of the antibiotic market,” said Christopher Houchens, PhD, director, Division of CBRN Medical Countermeasures at Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). “We look forward to working with him in moving promising products forward in the development pipeline to combat the growing threat of antimicrobial-resistant infections.”
“I’m honored to join the CARB-X Joint Oversight Board at a time when antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is spreading across the globe and our tools to fight these infections are becoming obsolete,” said Dan Burgess, MBA. “AMR is already responsible for more than 1 million deaths per year. Its continued growth threatens to reverse many of the gains we have made across the healthcare landscape over the last 50 years in areas such as oncology, autoimmune disease, and surgery, where the ability to successfully control infections in patients with weakened immune systems is now at risk. This is a tremendous opportunity for me to work with academic, government, and industry experts to address AMR through CARB-X’s unique model of supporting innovation. I am also excited to partner with Kevin Outterson, JD, LLM, Executive Director of CARB-X, a world leader in developing new incentive programs in the anti-infective space, as well as the Chief of R&D, Erin Duffy, PhD, an expert and leader in drug discovery who understands the difficulties facing antibacterial drug developers. Together with the rest of the CARB-X team, I hope we can build on the impressive progress in advancing important new treatments, vaccines, and diagnostics while also helping to create an improved economic environment that provides both an attractive commercial opportunity for these new products and ensures that appropriate models of stewardship are followed, so that these products will remain useful for many years to come.”
The JOB comprises representatives from the organizations that fund CARB-X, including BARDA within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), Wellcome, the U.K. Department of Health & Social Care’s Global AMR Innovation Fund (GAMRIF), the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and NIAID. All members of the JOB complete a robust conflict-of-interest process and are excluded from participating in any funding decision in which they may have a conflict. The independent chair will have no role in selecting companies for the CARB-X portfolio.
“Dan is a highly accomplished biotech executive with significant board-level experience. He has extensive first-hand knowledge of the opportunities and challenges that our portfolio companies will be facing as they graduate from the CARB-X program, and involvement from the investor side in assessing later-stage anti-infective opportunities. This gives him a unique perspective which can be useful to the board as well as to our portfolio companies as they move forward,” said Timothy Jinks, PhD, Head, Infectious Disease Interventions, Wellcome.
Since 2016, CARB-X has supported 92 product developers in 12 countries. CARB-X product developers have made tremendous progress developing vaccines, rapid diagnostics, antibiotics, and other prevention products and non-traditional treatments to address the global health crisis of antimicrobial resistance. 12 of these have begun or completed first-in-human studies, and two rapid diagnostics are now available in Europe.
“This is an exciting time for CARB-X. We recently launched new funding rounds, and with the recommitment from our funders to advance CARB-X over the next decade, Dan will help us leverage and broaden our partnerships to strengthen the global pipeline of life-saving products,” said Kevin Outterson, Executive Director of CARB-X and Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Law at Boston University. CARB-X was founded at Boston University in 2016.
CARB-X is funded in part with federal funds from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response; Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority; under Agreement number: 75A50122C00028. CARB-X is also funded by awards from Wellcome (WT224842), Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the UK Global Antimicrobial Resistance Innovation Fund (GAMRIF) funded by the UK Government Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The content of this press release is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of any CARB-X funders.
CARB-X Contact: Robin Berghaus, carbxpr@bu.edu
About CARB-X
CARB-X (Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator) is a global non-profit partnership dedicated to supporting early-stage antibacterial research and development to address the rising threat of drug-resistant bacteria. CARB-X supports innovative therapeutics, preventatives and rapid diagnostics. CARB-X is led by Boston University and funded by a consortium of governments and foundations. CARB-X funds only projects that target drug-resistant bacteria highlighted on the CDC’s Antibiotic Resistant Threats list, or the Priority Bacterial Pathogens list published by the WHO, with a priority on those pathogens deemed Serious or Urgent on the CDC list or Critical or High on the WHO list. https://carb-x.org/ | Twitter @CARB_X
About BARDA and NIAID
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services works to enhance and protect the health and well-being of all Americans, providing for effective health and human services and fostering advances in medicine, public health, and social services. ASPR leads HHS in preparing the nation to respond to and recovery from the adverse health effects of emergencies, supporting communities’ ability to withstand adversity, strengthening health and response systems, and enhancing national health security. Within ASPR, BARDA invests in innovation, advanced research and development, acquisition, and manufacturing of medical countermeasures – vaccines, drugs, therapeutics, diagnostic tools, and non-pharmaceutical products needed to combat health security threats. NIH is the primary U.S. federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. NIAID conducts and supports research — at NIH, throughout the United States, and worldwide — to study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses.
About Wellcome
Wellcome supports science to solve the urgent health challenges facing everyone. We support discovery research into life, health and wellbeing, and we’re taking on three worldwide health challenges: mental health, infectious disease and climate and health.
Education and research are crucial foundations for our future. Thus, the promotion of education, science and research is a policy priority of the German Federal Government. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) strengthens education at all stages of life and provides support for scientific research and innovation.
About the Global AMR Innovation Fund (GAMRIF)
The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) is the U.K. Government department which is responsible for helping people to live more independent, healthier lives for longer. GAMRIF was established to provide seed funding for innovative research and development, specifically in neglected and underinvested areas, in the field of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). GAMRIF is a U.K. aid investment, which means all projects funded must support research primarily and directly for the benefit of people in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The Fund takes a ‘One Health’ approach, seeking to invest in potential solutions to reduce the threat of AMR in humans, animals, fish and the environment. The Fund seeks to leverage additional global funding through interaction with international government bodies, public-private partnerships, product development partnerships, global funding mechanisms and global fora.
Founded in 1839, Boston University is an internationally recognized institution of higher education and research. With nearly 37,000 students, it is the third-largest independent university in the United States. BU consists of 17 schools and colleges and the interdisciplinary Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences, along with a number of multi-disciplinary centers and institutes integral to the University’s research and teaching mission. In 2012, BU joined the Association of American Universities (AAU), a consortium of 65 leading research universities in the United States and Canada. For further information, please contact Kim Miragliuolo at kmira@bu.edu. www.bu.edu