Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. (SIX: BSLN) announced today that it has been awarded a grant of up to USD 2.7 million from CARB-X (Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator), a global partnership dedicated to supporting the early development of antibacterial products to diagnose, prevent and treat drug-resistant infections. The funding will support an ongoing Basilea research program to develop an antibiotic from a novel class for the treatment of serious infections caused by drug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria.

The program aims to develop selective small-molecule inhibitors of DXR, an enzyme in the bacterial isoprenoid biosynthesis pathway. This enzyme is essential for the survival of many Gram-negative bacteria, including carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales and Acinetobacter baumannii as well as multidrug-resistant (MDR) Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which are listed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) as urgent and serious threats, or critical pathogens, against which new antibiotics are urgently needed.

Dr. Laurenz Kellenberger, Chief Scientific Officer, said: “The medical problem of antimicrobial resistance keeps increasing. Therefore, new antibiotics are urgently needed that will be able to address resistance that is growing against current treatment options. We are delighted to be partnering with CARB-X for the development of truly innovative antibiotics directed against this unexploited bacterial target. Basilea remains committed to leverage its proven ability in the discovery, development and commercialization of novel anti-infectives to deliver new treatment options to patients facing bacterial drug-resistance worldwide.”