PR95284

BOSTON, April 4, 2022 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

-- Deals mark an important step toward AMR Action Fund's goal of bringing two

to four new antibiotics to market to take on growing threat of drug-resistant

bacteria

The AMR Action Fund, the world's largest public-private partnership investing

in biotech companies that are developing antibiotics, announced today that it

has invested in Adaptive Phage Therapeutics (APT) and Venatorx Pharmaceuticals.

The transactions mark the Fund's first investments and are an important step

toward its goal of bringing to market new treatments for priority pathogens

identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) and U.S. Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention.

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"From inception, the AMR Action Fund has focused on identifying investments

that will yield urgently needed treatments and catalyze long-term innovation to

take on the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which now kills

more people annually than HIV/AIDS or malaria," said Bill Burns, Board Chair of

the AMR Action Fund. "Welcoming Adaptive Phage Therapeutics and Venatorx

Pharmaceuticals as our first portfolio companies demonstrates that we are well

on our way to fulfilling this important mission."

Drug-resistant bacterial infections directly kill an estimated 1.27 million

people annually. Few treatments are in development that target priority

pathogens, and investment into antimicrobials has not kept pace with the threat

to global health security. Recognizing this problem, over twenty pharmaceutical

companies that are members of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical

Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA), together with the WHO, the European

Investment Bank, and the Wellcome Trust, launched the AMR Action Fund by

raising nearly $1 billion. The Fund, which operates independently, makes equity

investments in biotechs with the overall goal of bringing two to four new

antibiotics to patients within a decade.

"Adaptive Phage Therapeutics and Venatorx Pharmaceuticals are poised to change

the treatment landscape for drug-resistant infections," said AMR Action Fund

CEO, Henry Skinner. "While this is a major milestone for the Fund, our work is

just beginning. We plan to commit over $100 million in capital this year to

companies developing clinically differentiated antimicrobials with the

potential to treat the most urgent unmet clinical needs, and we will continue

investing in promising biotechs in the years ahead to ensure that patients

around the world have the treatments they need. Our investments are

substantial, but we alone are not enough to take on the global challenge of

AMR. It is now imperative that policymakers around the world enact market

reforms to support investment in these urgently needed medications."

APT's approach leverages an ever-growing library of systematically discovered,

selected, catalogued, and curated bacteriophages (phages), naturally occurring

viruses that infect and kill bacteria, which collectively provide broad

coverage against many high-priority antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Phages from

APT's phage bank are matched to treat patients' infections through a

proprietary susceptibility assay, and are being tested on a range of

infections, including prosthetic joint infections, bone infections

(osteomyelitis), and lung infections. The AMR Action Fund's investment in APT

was executed as an extension to a Series B round led by Deerfield Management

Company.

Greg Merril, APT CEO and Co-Founder, said, "We are thrilled to be among the AMR

Action Fund's first portfolio companies and eager to leverage their scientific

and industry expertise as we continue to advance our phage-based therapies

through clinical testing."

Venatorx Pharmaceuticals' pipeline includes beta-lactam / beta-lactamase

inhibitors in intravenous and oral formulations that target drug-resistant

gram-negative bacteria. Cefepime-taniborbactam, the company's Phase III

intravenous product, is being developed for the treatment of complicated

urinary tract infections (cUTI), hospital-acquired bacterial pneumonia, and

ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia. Recently announced Phase III data

showed that cefepime-taniborbactam was superior to meropenem in the treatment

of cUTI. The AMR Action Fund's investment in Venatorx was executed as part of a

Series C round, with Abingworth Management joining as a co-investor.

"This latest round of investment puts us in a strong position to seek

regulatory approval of cefepime-taniborbactam while also driving forward other

products in our pipeline," said Venatorx Pharmaceuticals' President and CEO,

Chris Burns.

Martin Heidecker, AMR Action Fund's Chief Investment Officer, added, "Our

investments in Adaptive Phage and Venatorx are built on strong partnerships

with co-investors who, like us, see the potential to generate significant value

in companies pursuing novel treatments to drug-resistant infections."

About the AMR Action Fund

The AMR Action Fund is the world's largest public-private partnership investing

in antimicrobial treatments. The Fund will invest US$1 billion into

clinical-stage companies to help bring new antibiotics to market. The concept

was developed by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers &

Associations and its member biopharmaceutical companies, in collaboration with

the World Health Organization, the European Investment Bank, and the Wellcome

Trust. Investors include: Almirall; Amgen; Bayer; Boehringer Ingelheim;

Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation; Chugai; Daiichi-Sankyo; Eisai; Eli Lilly and

Company; the European Investment Bank (with the support of the European

Commission under Horizon 2020, the 2014-2020 European Union research and

innovation program); GlaxoSmithKline; Johnson & Johnson; LEO Pharma; Lundbeck;

Menarini; Merck; Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany; Novartis; Novo Nordisk; Novo

Nordisk Foundation; Pfizer; Roche; Shionogi; Takeda; Teva; UCB; and the

Wellcome Trust

SOURCE: AMR Action Fund

CONTACT: Chris Sweeney, chris.sweeney@amractionfund.com