British immunotherapy company Centauri Therapeutics yesterday announced a ₤6 million ($8.1 million USD) investment from the AMR Action Fund to support development of its broad-spectrum antibiotic candidate.

The money will help support the completion of phase 1 clinical studies for CTX-187, a novel antibiotic that employs a dual-mechanism action to target clinically prevalent and multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacteria. The drug is built on Centauri’s Alphamer platform, which harnesses the immune system to target pathogenic bacteria.

The investment from AMR Action Fund, a venture capital fund focused on development of novel antimicrobial therapeutics for priority pathogens, is part of a ₤30 million ($40.6 million USD) funding round secured by Centauri.

“This latest investment has enabled us a clear path to progress CTX-187 beyond Phase I trials and onto the development of a Phase II-ready asset,” Centauri CEO Jennifer Schneider, PhD, MPH, said in a press release. “I would like to thank the AMR Action Fund, as well as all of our existing investors and collaborators, for their support.”

Aim is to invest $1 billion

Centauri is the 12th company to receive funding from the AMR Action Fund, which was launched in 2020 with the aim of investing $1 billion in small and mid-sized biotech companies with promising antimicrobial products.

“The growing burden of drug-resistant Gram-negative infections is one of the most pressing challenges in global health, leaving patients with limited and increasingly ineffective treatment options,” said AMR Action Fund CEO Henry Skinner, PhD. “Centauri’s approach represents a promising opportunity to address this challenge, and we are pleased to support the team as they advance toward first-in-human studies.” 

Attorneys general from 14 states led by Democrats and the governor of Pennsylvania sued the Trump administration today over recent changes to the recommended childhood vaccine schedule.

The lawsuit names Health and Human Services and Health (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Acting Director Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD as defendants, and asks the courts to nullify the administration’s decision to reduce the childhood vaccine schedule. The vaccine schedule previously recommended immunizing against 17 diseases, but in January the CDC moved to recommending against only 11.

Attorneys general from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin, as well as Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, are the plaintiffs.

Second major lawsuit against HHS

The stated goal of HHS’s changes is to move the United States toward Denmark’s model of childhood immunization.

“Copying Denmark’s vaccine schedule without copying Denmark’s health care system doesn’t give families more options — it just leaves kids unprotected from serious diseases,” said Kris Mayes, attorney general of Arizona, at a press conference yesterday.

This is the second major lawsuit against Kennedy in the past year. In Julysix medical societies sued HHS after the agency said it was no longer recommending routine COVID-19 vaccines for many groups, including pregnant woman. 

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