Accelerating global antibacterial innovation

CARB-X is a non-profit public-private partnership dedicated to accelerating antibacterial research to tackle the global rising threat of drug-resistant bacteria. With more than $500 million to invest, CARB-X funds the best science from around the world. The CARB-X portfolio is the world’s largest early development pipeline of new antibiotics, vaccines, rapid diagnostics and other products to prevent and treat life-threatening bacterial infections.

Our vision

Protect humanity from the most serious bacterial threats by accelerating antibacterial product development.

Our mission

Accelerate a diverse portfolio of high-quality antibacterial products towards clinical development, focusing on the priority bacterial pathogens identified by the WHO and CDC.

How CARB-X works

CARB-X provides financial, scientific and business support to accelerate the development of products focused on the most serious drug-resistant bacteria identified by the WHO and CDC. The goal is to support them through the early stages of product development and Phase 1 so they can attract private or public investment for further clinical stage development.

CARB-X is investing more than $500 million between 2016 and 2021 into the research and development of new antibiotics, vaccines, rapid diagnostics and other life-saving products to tackle the global threat of drug-resistant bacteria.

CARB-X was created in response to the US government’s 2015 Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria (CARB) initiative, and the UK government’s call in 2016 for concerted global effort to address the growing drug-resistance public health crisis. Headquartered at Boston University, CARB-X was launched July 28, 2016, by two divisions of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS): the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), which is part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

CARB-X is funded by BARDA and Wellcome Trust, the world’s largest medical charity based in the UK. NIAID provides preclinical services to CARB-X-funded research projects. In May 2018, the CARB-X partnership welcomed two new funding partners: the UK Government’s Department of Health and Social Care through its Global Antimicrobial Resistance Innovation Fund (GAMRIF), and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world’s largest foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life for individuals around the world.

CARB-X is headquartered at the Boston University School of Law. Other partners include RTI International, California Life Sciences Institute (CLSI), Massachusetts Biotechnology Council (MassBio) and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

Leveraging the CARB-X Investment

Antibacterial research is scientifically challenging, costly and takes years. CARB-X supports projects through the early stages of development so they can attract private or public investment for further clinical development. The boxes below show how many Powered by CARB-X researchers and product developers raised additional investment as of September 30, 2018, the total they raised, the leveraging power of the CARB-X funding and the number of IND/IDEs filed.