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U.S. and British officials announced an ambitious collaboration Thursday designed to accelerate the discovery and development of new antibiotics in the fight against one of the modern era’s greatest health threats: antibiotic resistance. CARB-X, for Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator, will create one of the world’s largest public-private partnerships focused on preclinical discovery and development of new antimicrobial products. (Sun, 7/28)

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is expected to invest $250 million over the next five years to the public-private initiative, which will be known as CARB-X, for Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator. The venture, which has grown out of a 2015 Obama administration initiative, will focus on providing monetary help to small companies and laboratories that are in the earliest stages of developing new drugs, vaccines or medical devices to combat such microbes. (Burton, 7/28)

“We’re not looking for just the next iteration on an existing class [of drugs]. We’re looking for substantial improvement and novel approaches,” said Joe Larsen, acting deputy director of BARDA, the division of the US Department of Health and Human Services that’s providing funds for the project. (Garde and Silverman, 7/28)