GENEVA – The Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP) has announced a collaboration with Bugworks Research Inc (“Bugworks”), an Indo-USA-Australian biopharmaceutical group developing new treatments for antibiotic-resistant infections.

GARDP and Bugworks have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) which puts in place a framework to enable Bugworks and GARDP to work together with the objectives of maximizing the resources and impact of both organizations to accelerate the development and availability of lifesaving treatments. This includes working together for the preparation of regulatory strategies, in particular for clinical development programmes and post-approval studies.

“This Memorandum of Understanding with Bugworks recognizes the significant role of India in pharmaceutical research and development,” said Jean-Pierre Paccaud, GARDP Director of Business Development and Corporate Strategy. “It is an important opportunity to explore synergies in the development of urgently needed treatments for drug-resistant infections.”

“Bugworks has the dual advantage of doing research and development in India, which has a high burden of drug-resistant infections, while still being able to work with the best research organizations all over the world,” said Dr Santanu Datta, Bugworks co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer. “Through our collaboration with GARDP, we are uniquely positioned to spearhead novel antibiotic development that serves the Indian subcontinent, the ASEAN group of countries, in addition to the EU and Americas. Importantly, our collaboration with GARDP is focused on the development of antibiotics addressing unmet needs, including for paediatric and neonatal populations.”

About GARDP

The Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP) is a not-for-profit organization developing new treatments for drug-resistant infections that pose the greatest threat to health. Established by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) in 2016, GARDP is a core element of WHO’s Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance. We were created to ensure that everyone who needs antibiotics receives effective and affordable treatment, no matter where they live. We aim to develop five new treatments by 2025 to fight drug-resistant infections, focusing on sexually transmitted infections, sepsis in newborns and infections in hospitalized adults and children. GARDP is funded by the governments of Germany, Japan, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, South Africa, Switzerland, United Kingdom, as well as Médecins Sans Frontières and private foundations. www.gardp.org

About Bugworks

AMR is a global emergency impacting millions across the world, requiring next generation novel antibiotics. Bugworks is at the forefront of the scientific innovation to deliver novel antibiotics, which will address the alarming threat of anti-microbial resistance. With its years of domain experience, collaborations across the globe and through its innovative approaches Bugworks has developed a stealth strategy by which antibiotics successfully by-pass efflux pumps, which are a key defence barrier present on the bacterial cell envelope. The successful outcome of these efforts resulted in the discovery of a brand-new classes of broad-spectrum antibacterial leads, which are effective on all known resistant mechanisms. Bugworks’ solutions address the needs of serious Hospital & community infections, and Biothreat indications. www.bugworksresearch.com